AUBURN – This was a hug and handshake win, not a hoot and holler win for the Central Maine Community College men’s basketball team.
Normally, when you’re entering conference play armed with only two experienced performers from the previous season, details of a 23-point rout of an in-state rival would be shouted from the highest mountain.
Expectations are higher than that at Kirk Hall, though, so Thursday night’s 79-56 triumph over Eastern Maine Community College didn’t get the goose bumps rising.
“I’m happy to get the win, but not with the way we played,” said CMCC coach Dave Gonyea. “We need to be much better, and we’ve got Vermont (Tech) coming in Sunday with three guys 6-foot-8.”
Now, the good news. Some of those new components in the CMCC engine made the most of some significant minutes.
So far, the Mustangs (6-3) have relied on second-year forward Kaleb Violette of Readfield to lead them. Violette is second in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association in scoring and tops in rebounding. He lit up EMCC for a solid 19 points and 13 boards.
Fellow returnee Jon Gilson added 11 points. So did newcomer Chipper Houston of Auburn. Mark Hanington put up 10 points, and Reath Deng swished two 3-pointers on his way to eight.
“We lost four starters from last year,” Violette said, “but you can see us making strides every game.”
Houston did all his scoring in the second half, denying the Golden Eagles (6-3) any chance at rallying from a 37-18 halftime deficit.
EMCC inched no closer than a dozen, 54-42, on a Ben Maloney putback with 9:42 remaining.
Houston was a heavy hitter down the stretch, dropping in two hoops during a run of nine unanswered points that expanded the Mustangs’ lead to 28. He also canned a pair of late free throws and a 3-pointer.
EMCC missed its first 12 shots of the game, went 8-for-42 in the first half and barely crested above 20 percent for the game.
“They didn’t shoot well at all,” Gonyea said, “but we didn’t either.”
Maloney paced EMCC with 12 points. Jake Manner contributed 11 and Bruce Boyington added 10.
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