FREEPORT

With the high school basketball season winding down, this time of year is an ideal time to be playing good ball.

Freeport got 17 points from Eriksen Shea and 14 from Toby Holt as the Falcons took down Lake Region, 57-44 in boys Western Maine Conference action on Friday.

“It was really big,” said Toby Holt, explaining the magnitude of the win. “Lake Region was right above us in the Heal Points and a loss could have potentially knocked us out.”

The win currently puts Freeport at 9-7 and in eight in Class B South. The win leapfrogs Freeport over Lake Region as the Lakers fell to 7-9 and now sits in ninth.

Shea got the crowd involved early, nailing a 3- point basket to get the Falcons out to a 5-0 start. Following a pair of Dawson Smith free throws for Lake Region, Shea sank another from behind the arc to give the Falcons an early 8-2 lead, bringing the crowd in the Freeport student section to their feet.

Lake Region clawed back behind Smith’s three straight hoops to cut the Falcon lead to 12-8. Freeport’s Nate Thomas and Laker Paul Walker exchanged 3- pointers and Freeport held a slight advantage after one quarter, 15-13.

A couple of quick Freeport baskets prompted a Lake Region timeout to open the second quarter, and from there, the Falcons dominated, taking control of the tempo on both ends of the court.

Ethan Sclar ran the offense, leading the passes around the perimeter, looking for the hot hand. Holt was that hot hand in the second frame. Following a 35- point effort on Tuesday night against York, the junior remained hot, dumping in 10 points, including a putback with less than two minutes to play in the half to give the home team a 30-17 lead.

“That was Toby’s first big game against York,” said Freeport coach Bill Ridge. “We worked inside-out and it was effective and tonight he kept up that confidence.”

Meanwhile, the defense took care of business, holding the Lakers to just a pair of field goals and six second-quarter points.

The Falcons carried a 33- 19 lead into the half, led by Holt’s 12 points and Shea’s eight. Sclar chipped in with five.

“We try to preach patience on offense, we like to move the ball around and get everyone involved,” said Ridge. “We want to work for a great shot, not an easy one. We got a lot of contributions from different people tonight.”

“We move the ball around every night,” said Sclar. “Whomever is the hot hand, we try to get it to him.”

While the offense slowed the pace down in the third quarter, the Falcons “D” continued it’s pressure to start the half. The Lakers managed just four points on 2-for-11 shooting and found themselves trailing Freeport, 40-23 through three quarters.

“Our defense always looks to contain the other team’s best scorer. And tonight’s case was number two (Smith),” said Holt as the Falcons held Smith scoreless in both the second and third quarters after a eight-point first-quarter effort.

In the final eight minutes, the Lakers attempted to get control of the pace by putting Freeport to the line, stopping the clock throughout the quarter. Freeport went to the charity stripe 14 times, hitting nine of them, foiling any comeback by the visitors.

Despite a 21-point fourth, eight more from Smith, the Lakers failed to catch the Falcons as they pulled away to the 13-point win. Smith completed the night with 16 points while teammate Ethan Chadwick chipped in with nine.

“It was good to go out here and win all four quarters,” said Sclar. “This could be a future prelim matchup with Lake Region. We wanted to position ourselves in the right spot going into the playoffs. We just need to take care of business against Wells and Gray-New Gloucester next week.”

Sclar finished with nine points, five rebounds and five assists as the senior guard did a little bit of everything.

“Ethan has been through it all with this program,” said Ridge. “He’s been a starter since a freshman, so it’s great to see him on the other end of some of these games as a senior.”

Freeport travels to Wells on Tuesday before concluding the regular season at home against Gray-New Gloucester on Thursday at 7 p.m.