OAKLAND – The defensive game plan for the Oxford Hills Vikings was to shut down the inside games of Messalonskee big men Bennett Lessard and Eric Taylor in Wednesday night’s Eastern Class A boys’ basketball preliminary.
While the Vikings had success in stopping Lessard, holding the 6-foot-8 center to just two points, the results weren’t as good with Taylor.
The junior forward stepped his game to the outside and dumped in 16 points to lead the No. 5 Eagles past the 12th-seeded Vikings 59-44 in front of a raucous home crowd.
Taylor connected for 10 points from the field in the first half, and the Eagles (14-5) led from start to finish. He scored off jump shots on the baseline, a jumper at the foul line and a nifty up-and-under layup.
Whatever he shot went in.
“I was getting lucky on some of those shots,” said Taylor. “I was going to keep shooting until I missed. It was one of those nights.”
Taylor wasn’t the only Eagle knocking down shots from the perimeter. Orlando Holmes dropped in three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points on the night. Matt Natole added a pair of treys among this 10 points.
“We need someone to knock down some shots from the outside,” said Messalonskee coach Tom Hill. “I put four of those guys outside and hope one of them gets hot.” “We decided we had to pick our poison,” said Oxford Hills coach Scott Graffam. “We set up our defense to make sure (Lessard and Taylor) didn’t kill us. Tonight they got a major contribution from (Holmes and Natole).”
Senior forward Ben Ryerson kept the Vikings (9-10) close in the first half with 11 of his team-high 13 points. Unfortunately for the Vikings, they struggled putting together their offense. The other four starters combined for just nine points. Sophomore Ryan Yates came off the bench to contribute eight points as the team’s second-leading scorer.
“We knew we had to stop Ryerson,” said Hill. “That was one of our focuses, to slow him down and make the other guys beat us.”
Leading 26-18 at the half, the Eagles stormed out of the blocks in the third quarter with Natole hitting a 3-pointer from the top of the key. A few minutes later, Natole drove to the basket for easy layup, and Taylor nailed a pair of free throws to extend the Eagles’ lead to 33-20.
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