YORK — With momentum switching as quickly as Maine’s ever-changing skies, York weathered Tuesday’s storms best.
The Wildcats (7-1) knocked off two-time defending Class A champion Greely, 57-51, providing further evidence that Class A is a deep, open field.
“I think it’s wide open and I think we have to be in the conversation,” said York Coach Paul Marquis.
It was Greely’s first loss to a Class A opponent since being eliminated in the 2016 tournament by Brunswick. York knocked off previously unbeaten Kennebunk in its last game. Greely fell to 6-2, with its earlier loss coming against AA South Portland.
York controlled the middle two quarters, outscoring Greely 29-15 while forcing 15 turnovers. The pressure led to Rangers standouts Zach Brown and Andrew Storey being saddled with four fouls.
Trailing by 10 entering the fourth, Greely showed its championship mettle with a last flury, cutting the lead to 44-43 with 4:23 remaining on an inside hoop from Storey (game-high 22 points).
“Obviously you take a lead, teams are going to punch back at you and (Greely) answered every one,” Marquis said. “But we also, without getting too wound up, stayed the course.”
York never blinked, and sophomore Brady Cummins cooly buried an in-rhythm 3-pointer set up by brisk passing.
“I think in the end we’re just the team that stays composed,” Cummins said. “The whole time when they were bringing the ball down I knew I was wide open so I knew if the ball was coming to me, I was going to shoot it. No hesitation.”
The shot ignited York’s final significant 9-0 blitz that included a putback from senior co-captain Will MacDonald (18 points). The Wildcats iced the win going 6 of 6 at the free-throw line.
“It’s a big win for us, coming off a big win against Kennebunk and we’ve got a lot of confidence and as a team we just have to keep it rolling,” MacDonald said.
In the first half, York jumped ahead 8-2 as junior guard Jonathan Donovan sank two quick 3-pointers.
Greely responded with a 15-5 run, with Brown assists leading to directly to seven of Storey’s 12 points in the first quarter, as the Rangers took a 17-13 lead.
York ripped off nine straight to start the second, and behind Riley Linn scoring nine of his 11 points, York had a 26-21 halftime lead.
In the third, each team had a 9-0 run – first Greely, then York, with the Wildcats’ coming after Brown drew his fourth foul.
Having Brown (7 points) and Storey on the bench left the Rangers offense basically up to Logan Bagshaw (13 points).
“York obviously did a good job at kind of dictating but we really didn’t spend enough time really attacking and putting pressure on them,” Greely Coach Travis Seaver said. “There was a lot of foul trouble but we didn’t give ourselves an opportunity to put York in the same position.”
Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or:
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