AUGUSTA — Skowhegan made quick work of Mt. Blue in a Class A North boys basketball quarterfinal Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center.
The scary part? River Hawks coach Tom Nadeau thinks his team can play even better.
Levi Obert scored 16 points, Collin LePage added 14 and third-seeded Skowhegan used a hot opening quarter to defeat No. 6 Mt. Blue, 67-33.
Skowhegan (16-3), which won its 11th straight game, will play No. 2 Brewer on Wednesday night back at the Civic Center. Mt. Blue finished 8-11.
Skowhegan’s frontcourt of Collin LePage, Kyle LePage and Adam Savage — all 6-foot-5 or taller — was a stone wall to Mt. Blue on defense and a force on offense, either scoring second-chance points or flinging the ball out to an open guard — usually Obert — ready to strike.
Kyle LePage finished with 11 points and Savage added eight.
One moment in the third quarter, when Mt. Blue scored only two points — both on free throws — best showed Skowhegan’s defensive dominance.
The Cougars’ Jayden Meader lifted the ball to the hoop for an apparently easy layup, only for Savage to swoop in out of nowhere and swat the ball away to the loud reaction of the River Hawks’ student section.
Skowhegan’s Collin LePage draws the foul from Mt. Blue’s Zach Poisson during the Class A North quarterfinals Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
“It’s a luxury to have that size,” Nadeau said. “They understand the game pretty well, and so they know what wins.”
Skowhegan swept the regular-season series 2-0, defeating Mt. Blue 62-52 in overtime on Dec. 15 and taking the rematch 70-63 on Jan. 25. And while Nadeau felt his team has improved each time, he’s still looking for a complete game.
“The first game, we had a double-digit lead in the second half, and then we got lackadaisical,” Nadeau said. “The second game, we were up big in the second half and we got lackadaisical and we talked about putting a full 32 minutes together. I don’t think we got a full 32 minutes here tonight, but that was a lot closer than what we had in the past. The second quarter (Saturday) we got outscored and they got 17 after two in the first, so I wasn’t excited about that.”
Skowhegan’sLevi Obert (15) celebrates the two points plus the foul committed by Mt. Blue’s Jayden Meader (2) during the Class A North quarterfinals Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
There was plenty of excitement early on. The River Hawks raced out to a 15-0 first-quarter lead, with Collin LePage supplying six points. Mt. Blue was held scoreless until Chandler Briggs’s bucket with 3:48 left in the quarter. By the 2:18 mark, Mt. Blue coach Troy Norton had already used his second timeout.
Skowhegan led 23-2 after the first period as the River Hawks’ students taunted the Cougars with chants of “It’s too easy!” and “Check the scoreboard!”
Mt. Blue found a scoring groove in the second quarter, as Justin Dill drained two of his team’s four 3-pointers in the period, but the Cougars still trailed at the half, 37-19. Obert led the River Hawks with 11 first-half points.
A foul-filled third quarter brought a return to Mt. Blue’s struggles, as Skowhegan outscored the River Hawks 15-2.
Zach Poisson led Mt. Blue with 14 points.
“Luckily for us, we’re still a young team,” Mt. Blue coach Troy Norton said. “We basically return our entire tram next year, so for us this was a learning opportunity and we’ll be back here next year and hopefully do better.”
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