Figure, last season’s Greyhounds missed out on the playoffs just behind the Saints, who were subsequently eliminated by Wiscasset in the Western Maine Class C preliminary.
And because Lisbon has some tough competition ahead — at Winthrop tonight, home against Boothbay Thursday, and at Dirigo this upcoming Saturday — Gentle’s team needed a good start.
Jacob Johnston stepped up and led the Lisbon (1-0) charge, scoring seven fourth-quarter points and the only field goal in overtime to lift the Greyhounds to a 49-43 overtime win.
Johnston had a doubledouble, scoring 10 points and pulling down 13 tough rebounds, including four offensive caroms down the stretch as Lisbon clawed back from a 35-31 fourthquarter deficit to force the extra session.
“We needed to win and somebody needed to step up, and really the whole team stepped up in the fourth quarter and played really aggressive,” said Johnston. “It is really important to rebound the ball, both offensively and defensively, keeping the ball away from the other team. This win is really important, a big win, and we need to keep going one game at a time.”
“Rebounding was a focal point at halftime, knowing that we needed to crash the boards after we gave up a couple easy putbacks, not covering the weakside very well,” said Gentle, whose squad finished with a 32-27 rebounding edge. “We had some good defensive stops down the stretch and in overtime, which ended up being big. We only play St. Dom’s once, so this was a big win for us.”
Coming back
Trailing 21-20 at the half, the Greyhounds began the second half cold, with the Saints grabbing a 27-22 lead after a Mike Bryant bucket.
Kyle Bourget gave the Greyhounds a lift, coming off the bench to score 10 points, including four in the final two minutes of the third quarter to get Lisbon to 27-26.
Johnston took over in the fourth, along with center Jacob Bremmer. The duo combined to pull down nine rebounds in the frame, with Bremmer blocking two shots.
Tucker Brannon drained a 3-pointer, his first points since the first quarter, and Johnston’s putback gave Lisbon a 36-35 lead. Johnston made a free throw, but Bryant tied the game with 1:25 remaining.
Johnston grabbed a pair of offensive boards and was fouled. He made another free throw as Lisbon finished just six of 18 from the charity stripe in regulation. Dyer made a free throw, the Saints’ first after nine misses, with 14 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
“We were not able to make some free throws in the fourth quarter, and we were fortunate that they didn’t shoot well from the foul line either,” said Gentle. “Free throws are just as important in the first quarter as they are at the end, but we made some big ones in overtime.”
After Johnston finished off a pass from Johnny Yim for a 40-38 lead in overtime, Saints forward Eric Ulin (10 points, seven rebounds, five steals, three assists) fouled out, and Kendal Roy and Brannon combined to go nine of 10 from the line to close things out.
“He is one of their better players, and when he fouled out we were able to take advantage,” said Gentle of Ulin.
“They did a nice job at the line and we didn’t,” added St. Dom’s coach and former Morse mentor Todd Flaherty of Phippsburg. “We had 65 shots and they had 52, something that we want to do, but we have to make shots. We broke down in the overtime, and missing Ulin in overtime and having Matt Dyer in foul trouble screwed up our rotation.
“But, I thought the kids did a good job hanging in. Dyer is our best offensive player, and we just didn’t get a lot out of him tonight due to fouls. He will bounce back.”
In the first quarter, Lisbon came out of the gates fast, darting out to a 14-10 lead as Roy had seven points. The Greyhounds held a 14-4 rebounding edge in the frame.
“We were getting killed on the glass, but I thought we responded to that,” said Flaherty. “I think we got wore down a bit in overtime. We didn’t look like ourselves down the stretch.”
Behind five points from Madison Jalbert, St. Dom’s battled back for a one-point lead at the break.
Roy paced Lisbon with 13 points, with Brannon adding 11 points and three steals. The Greyhounds made 16 of 52 (30 percent) from the floor and finished 14 of 24 at the line. Bremmer had seven caroms and three blocked shots.
Jalbert matched Ulin’s total of 10 points, including two 3-pointers, to pace the Saints, with Cam Raymond and Bryant chipping in eight points apiece. St. Dom’s shot 29 percent (19 of 65) from the field and made just three of 12 free throws.
Lisbon 49,
St. Dom’s 43, OT
At Lisbon Falls
St. Dom’s — 10 11 6 11 5 — 43
Lisbon— 146 61211—49
St. Dom’s — Cam Raymond 4-0-8,
Mike Bryant 4-0-8, Madison Jalbert
4-0-10, Matt Dyer 0-3-3, Eric Ulin
5-0-10, Becket Wagner 2-0-4, Isaac
Dean 0-0-0, Adam Vining 0-0-0.
Totals — 19-3-43.
Lisbon — Kendal Roy 3-6-13,
Tucker Brannon 3-4-11, Johnny
Yim 1-0-2, Jacob Johnston 3-4-10,
Jacob Bremmer 1-1-3, Kyle Bourget 5-0-10, Darren Ward 0-0-0, Joe
Philbrick 0-0-0. Totals — 16-15-49.
3-point field goals — (SD) Jalbert
2; (L) Roy, Brannon.
Records — Lisbon 1-0, St. Dom’s
0-1.
Up next for Lisbon — Tonight at
Winthrop, 5:30 p.m.
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