LEWISTON – Jason Fuller tried to warn his players to not be fooled by Skowhegan’s 4-6 record heading into Tuesday night’s KVAC game.
The Indians had already knocked off some of the top teams in the league and were licking their chops for a shot at the No. 3 team in the latest Heal Points.
It didn’t work. Skowhegan dominated the paint and dominated the Blue Devils physically for a 52-39 win.
“We know that we’re good enough that we can compete with anyone, but we’re not good enough where we can just show up and beat anyone,” said Skowhegan coach Troy Scott, whose team improved to 5-6.
“They outhustled us. They outmuscled us,” Fuller said. “Physically, they took us out of everything we wanted to do tonight.”
Junior forward Josh Whiting flexed the most muscle, scoring a game-high 20 points, all inside. Skowhegan started feeding him in the post early and as a result trailed only once all night, at 3-2.
“Whiting is a load down there. He’s not a finesse player, definitely,” Scott said. “He gets big and he gets layups.”
The Indians enjoyed a productive balance from the outside from Erik James and Christian Gregor, who scored nine points apiece to keep the Blue Devil defense from totally collapsing on Whiting.
Lewiston (7-4) also suffered from a poor shooting night, hitting at just a 35-percent clip from the field. Skowhegan shot 47 percent. David Labonte led the Devils with 15 points, but never got into a rhythm from the perimeter.
While Whiting was establishing his presence down low, Lewiston sputtered out of the gate, scoring five points in the first quarter. Labonte heated up briefly in the second, drilling a pair of treys to pull the Devils even at 14-14, but Skowhegan closed the half with a 10-4 run to take a 24-18 lead into the break.
The Indians led by as much as 10 in the third before the Devils appeared to get the momentum shift they were looking for when Jared Turcotte converted a three-point play and Labonte made 1-of-2 free throws, resulting from a Skowhegan technical foul, that brought the Devils back within six. But James responded with Skowhegan’s only trey of the game from the top of the key to give the Indians a nine-point bulge heading into the fourth.
Lewiston tried to step up its full-court press in the final quarter only to have Skowhegan handle it effectively. Whiting’s lay-up off a press breaker gave the Indians their first 13-point lead, their largest of the game, with 5:10 left.
“We were able to handle their pressure well,” Scott said. “I think the key for us was we beat their pressure and then looked to attack it.”
“I couldn’t convince our kids how good that team is,” Fuller said. “Obviously, that record is real deceiving.”
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