Edward Little’s Gage Cloutier, left and Simon Hayes go for a block against Morse’s Keegan Companion, center, as Emma Warner, right looks on in Wednesday’s high school Unified basketball game at Bath Middle School. (Eric Maxim / The Times Record)
BATH — Cam Dunlop poured in a game-high 38 points as Morse defeated Edward Little, 60-46, in a high school Unified South tournament preliminary basketball game at Bath Middle School on Wednesday.
The eighth-seeded Shipbuilders (6-3) advance to face top-seeded Gray-New Gloucester today in the next round. Ninth-seeded Edward Little finished its season at 5-4.
“It’s good to see these kids go to the next level, they’ve worked so hard to achieve this,” Morse coach Becky Roak said. “This was a big deal to them, they knew the stakes.”
“I’ve never scored this many points in a game,” Dunlop, freshman, said after setting a career high. “My teammates did such a great job getting me the ball.”
Dunlop and the Shipbuilders had a game on their hands in the first half against the Red Eddies. EL took an early 8-5 lead with baskets from George Kampstra, Gage Cloutier and Simon Hayes.
“It’s great to see the kids come out here and work together between the team and their partners,” Sandy Whiting, who co-coaches the EL squad with Elaine Derosby, said. “Friendships have been created.”
The Shipbuilders went on a 14-2 run, led by the offense of Dunlop and center Keegan Companion.
“He is such a quick player who knows the game,” Roak said of Dunlop. “And our size underneath gives us a big advantage that we will need to utilize during these (playoff) games.”
Trailing by 11, the Red Eddies went on a run, paced by the strong rebounding underneath the offensive glass by Hayes, while grabbing points from Cloutier in the process.
EL cut the deficit to three points late in the first half, but Morse held its composure. After the teams traded baskets, the Shipbuilders went on a 10-0 run to close the half with a 35-20 lead.
Dunlop paced all scorers with 17 first-half points, followed by Companion’s 10. Cloutier led EL with 10 points, followed by six from Kampstra.
“Our kids finished strong to end the half,” Roak added.
Zoe Walker of Morse grabs a defensive rebound before heading up the courst and making a shot during the first half of Wednesday high school Unified basketball game at Bath Middle School. (Eric Maxim / The Times Record)
Morse pulls away
Dunlop opened the second half by scoring Morse’s first eight points to extend the lead to 43-20 before EL’s Nick Gagne stopped the run with a basket.
“It was important for us to score points,” Dunlop said. “We didn’t want to lose today.”
Dunlop continued to hit the bottom of the net, and a 3-point basket at the 12-minute mark followed by a Michael Laser jump-shot gave the ’Builders a 52-28 lead.
“I know I can make those shots and if I get a good chance, I know I can make it,” Dunlop said.
As the clock ticked down, the home team was able to put away the Red Eddies, keeping them at an arms length for the victory.
Cloutier led the visitors with 21 points, leaving it all on the court in his final game as a senior.
“I’m going to miss this, I always go out and do the best that I can for my teammates,” he said.
“We have some seniors that we’re going to miss,” Whiting said. “They have done a lot for our program here and they’ll be missed.”
Following Cloutier’s 21, Hayes registered 15 points, while Kampstra finished with six, and Melody Mata and Gagne split four points evenly.
Dunlop added four rebounds and four steals to his 38 points. Companion finished with 12 points, while grabbing 10 rebounds.
Chelsey Boucher, Issac Smith, Anthony Pelletier, Zoe Walker and Laser each scored two points apiece in the victory.
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