Running and rebounding. No. 2 York High did lots of each and rolled past No. 10 Cape Elizabeth, 76-37, Friday night in the Class B South quarterfinal at the Portland Expo.
The unbeaten Wildcats clearly demonstrated they will be tough to slow, especially with center Lukas Bouchard leading the board crashers and point guard Ryan Cummins heading the sticky hands crew and scoring from all over, including a game-high 19 points from Reece MacDonald.
“We want to play fast. That’s what I thought we did that game,” MacDonald said. “That’s why we got the result we did so that’s a good win for us.”
York (19-0) will face No. 3 Spruce Mountain (15-4) in Tuesday’s 6 p.m., semifinal.
How York did it
• A key stat York first-year coach Matt Regan tracks is shot attempts. His theory is that most high school teams only make about 35 percent of their shots so it’s important to have a shot attempt advantage.
“We focus on trying to play with pace. We know we have good athletes and we want to keep putting pressure on the other team,” Regan said. “We really emphasize push the ball down the floor and get the easy buckets, especially in the Expo where it can be a tough shooting place.”
• York had 57 shot attempts in the first three quarters while building a 57-30 lead that left the fourth quarter to both teams’ reserves. Cape took 34 shots in that span. The disparity was especially glaring in the third quarter when York had a 23-11 scoring advantage and a 21-8 shot attempt edge.
“Basically any one who is out there, we’re attacking the glass, we’re getting rebounds. We’re trying to get putbacks,” said Bouchard, who had 12 points and at least a dozen rebounds.
• It was York’s third win against Cape Elizabeth this season, taking 69-51 and 71-49 decisions previously.
Up next
• York will have a significant size advantage against Spruce Mountain, which got past an upset bid from No. 6 Oceanside with a strong closing finish in a 60-56 win. The Phoenix utilized a man-to-man defense after being hurt by Oceanside’s 3-point game. York is a handful against man defenses because of the rebounding of the 6-foot-6 tandem of Bouchard and Lucas Ketchum, along with the athletic driving ability of MacDonald and Jack Joyce. Cummins is a heady guard. York did not utilize the 3-point shot much against Cape Elizabeth, with four players making one trey. Robbie Hanscom’s 3 in the final seconds of the first quarter staked York to an early 18-12 lead.
Statistics of note
• Cape Elizabeth’s Eli Smith scored 14 points. Tim Fredericks had seven in the first quarter when Cape briefly was hanging with York.
• York had just two turnovers through three quarters. Cape had 15.
They said it
• “All season it’s been turnovers that have plagued us. A lot of that is youth and inexperience and they took advantage.” – Cape coach Jeff Mitchell
• “We really just kept getting it into the paint which was key for us. We didn’t settle for 3-pointers.” – York junior Reece MacDonald
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Join the Conversation
We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It’s a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. Read more...
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
For those stories that we do enable discussion, our system may hold up comments pending the approval of a moderator for several reasons, including possible violation of our guidelines. As the Maine Trust’s digital team reviews these comments, we ask for patience.
Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday and limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve.
By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is found on our FAQs.
You can modify your screen name here.
Show less
Join the Conversation
Please sign into your Press Herald account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.