The Cougars are dominant for three quarters while ousting Brewer.
By Randy Whitehouse
Staff Writer

BREWER – With time winding down in the first half and the visiting Mt. Blue Cougars working the clock for the last shot, a standing room only crowd in the Brewer High School gymnasium voiced their displeasure with a “Bo-ring” chant.

If playing near-perfect basketball for 24 minutes is boring, the Cougars will be happy to put the throngs that fill the Bangor Auditorium for the next two weeks to sleep.

Mt. Blue played a virtually flawless first three quarters and built itself a large enough cushion to more than survive a letdown in the fourth on its way to a 58-45 win over Brewer in the Eastern Class A preliminaries.

The Cougars (13-6) will face second-seeded Brunswick in the quarterfinals at “the Mecca” Saturday.

Mt. Blue shot 58 percent from the floor to lead by eight after one, 18 at the half and 23 after three. Only poor free throw shooting by the Cougars and hot shooting by sophomore Chris WIlson (game-high 24 points) gave the Witches a whiff of Cougar dust in the fourth quarter.

Ted Neil and Brian Wells (11 rebounds) dominated the paint and led Mt. Blue with 22 points apiece. But most impressive was the Cougars’ all-around defensive effort. They held the Witches (12-7) to just 28 percent shooting, including 3-for-20 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Heading the lockdown were Zach Frechette and Peter Tinguely, who stymied Brewer star guard Andy Frost (five points) with spectacular perimeter defense.

“It was a heck of an effort by both of them. Obviously if you close him down, even if he isn’t scoring he helps everybody else get their shots,” said Mt. Blue coach Jim Bessey. “He likes to curl from his left to his right from the foul-line extended. He got there, but we actually had him outside the lane so he wasn’t in the middle of the floor and he could only play to one side.”

“We knew (Frost) was incredibly quick and Teddy and Brian knew that they both needed to help and if I got beat, they just stepped up,” Frechette said. “He comes off screens and curls in and I just had to cheat every single time to get over the screens.”

Frost’s first and only field goal of the game came with 5:10 left in the first quarter to pull the Witches within 6-4. A three-point play by Isaac Bell (seven points, 10 rebounds) made it a one-point game moments later, but a Steve Wells trey sparked a 11-4 Cougar run.

Steve Wells (seven points, six assists) and Brian Simpson (six points, five assists) answered Frechette and Tinguely’s defensive mastery on the offensive end, finding Brian Wells and Neil whenever they were open inside and knocking down the occasional jumper (four 3-pointers combined). Brian Wells (five assists) and Neil also worked the two-man game well.

“Brian and I always have good chemistry,” Neil said. “They didn’t have very much height, so our gameplan was to just throw it inside and they couldn’t stop us.”

Simpson’s first trey midway through the second quarter sparked a 12-0 Mt. Blue run to close out the half. Brian Wells showed his versatility by scoring from the top of the key to put the lead into double figures for good, then put back his own miss. Neil then scored off a nice inside feed from Simpson, and Steve Wells drilled his second trey to close out the first half scoring.

“The first half we had 12 assists and one turnover,” Bessey said. “A coach obviously takes pried in execution, and in the first half, we executed very, very well.”

The Cougars continued to execute very well in the third. Simpson’s second trey of the game doubled-up the Witches at 40-20. Wells and Neil then combined for their next eight points to make it 48-22 and put the game away.

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