BUCKFIELD — Rangeley jumped on the backs of Kenny Thompson and Nolan Boone and let its two best scorers lead it to the promised land on Saturday. 

The Lakers’ offense ran through their two veteran guards and they were able to defeat Buckfield 66-44 on Saturday afternoon. 

Boone scored five of his 21 points in the first quarter to get Rangeley’s offense jump-started. The senior also stole the ball twice in the first and seven times total on Saturday. 

Buckfield was able to hang around thanks to Tyler Gammon and Gavin Charest each scoring four points, but the second quarter was a different story. 

Buckfield (1-3) got five points from RJ Loring and that was it as Rangeley (2-0) dominated play on both sides. 

Thompson scored eight of his game-high 25 points in the quarter and also grabbed four rebounds while Boone scored six. The Lakers’ offense was clicking in every way. 

“They’re my shooters, my ball handlers, they play good defense. I am just trying to help them communicate with other teammates more,” Jeff LaRochelle said. “It’s a ton of experience.”

The Lakers brought a 33-15 lead into halftime off the effort on the defensive end as much as the offensive side. 

“I think that the offense rebounding we capitalized on pretty well and I thought we crashed the rim well,” Thompson said. “On defense I thought we rotated well.”

Buckfield never folded, however, and outscored Rangeley 19-15 in the third, much to the dismay of LaRochelle. 

“Our team is usually a tale of two cities,” LaRochelle said. “In the third quarter, all of a sudden we decided to do one pass and shoot. I called a couple timeouts and wanted to straighten it out. … The first three minutes we sometimes fall asleep, so this is a good road win for us. They’re good.”

Rangeley got complacent and allowed Buckfield to claw its way back into striking distance. 

“We wanted to give more ball pressure and I think that gave (our players) more motivation,” Buckfield coach Kyle Rines said. “I think that motivation then led to easier buckets.”

Gammon came alive in the third quarter after battling foul trouble in the second and scored seven points, and finished the game with 16. LaRochelle knew that Gammon’s missed time was a missed opportunity for the Lakers. 

“I thought when Gammon got in foul trouble we should have taken advantage of it but we didn’t,” LaRochelle said. “In the third quarter we didn’t really match their intensity. We got caught with a travel, but you need to cut the ball, get your hands out, catch it and put it on your hip. That’s where some of us start to lose it. It’s from our better kids and that’s why I got frustrated. Good teams, they finish.”

Thompson and Boone each scored six in the third quarter but Buckfield tallied five steals in the period.

“Their full-court press was getting to our teammates a little (in the third quarter),” Thompson said. “Once we started to move the ball around we got back into it.”

Rines talked to Gammon at halftime and reminded him to move the ball around to make it easier on himself.

“He had a lot of responsibility to score and I think in the first you saw that frustration trying to do everything himself,” Rines said. “We talked at halftime to share it and create more space, and you saw in the third quarter we were able to create space and score.”

Gammon scored six points in the fourth but Rangeley started to get to the free-throw line in the final quarter to put the game away. 

Thompson scored twice from the line and Boone four times to help Rangeley to an 18-point quarter. Ian Lillis also scored four of his eight total points in the final quarter. 

Rangeley was able to accumulate four steals in the fourth to help get it to the offensive end.

“Just hustle,” Thompson said. “We need to put 100 percent on the defensive end and that results in our offense.”

Copy the Story Link