AUBURN – With the typical late-season fatigue setting in, North Yarmouth Academy coach Tom Robinson isn’t too picky with how his team wins, just that it keeps winning and maintains momentum heading into the tournament three weeks hence.
“Sometimes it’s good to win ugly,” Robinson said following the Panthers’ 59-51 win over St. Dom’s on Friday night. “It’s that time of the season where kids get tired and we’ve got a couple of kids with the flu. So a win’s a win. It’s the first time we’ve won here since I’ve been here.”
NYA improved to 14-1 despite an off night from the Western Maine Conference’s leading scorer, Tim DeLuca (18 points, eight assists). But the main reason the Panthers were able to make due was also DeLuca, who got his teammates involved early after it was apparent he didn’t have his usual shooting stroke.
“That was probably his worst shooting night of the year, but he’s so unselfish that he’ll try to keep other people involved,” Robinson said.
Brian Chin added 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocks for NYA, while Nate Isaacson chipped in with 10 points off the bench. Justin Fongemie led St. Dom’s (5-7) with a game-high 21 points and also did a nice job defending DeLuca. Justin Richardson added 15 points.
“We weren’t worried about (DeLuca) going for 30 or 40. Our problem was us putting points on the board,” said Saints coach Dan DeBruin. “It feels like he got 40 tonight with the amount of points we got, with only six in the first quarter and 14 in the first half.”
The Saints shot just 3-for-14 from the field in each of the first two quarters and were fortunate to be down only 12 at the half.
“I think we got them on a lucky night. They didn’t make many shots,” Robinson said. “It wasn’t anything were were doing. It was one of those nights they couldn’t hit anything.”
The Saints’ shooting woes continued early into the second half as they were unable to make much headway despite the Panthers missing their first six shots. Richardson started to heat up toward the end of the third quarter and got them back within six at the end of the period with an off-balance shot off the glass to beat the buzzer.
NYA scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to push the lead back into double digits, and led by as much as 13 midway through the fourth. The Saints threw one more scare into the Panthers, getting buckets from Jamie Donahue and Fongemie to whittle the deficit to 53-47 with 1:17 left, but DeLuca and Chin combined to convert six of six free throws in the final minute to hold off a comeback.
“You can’t play catch-up with a team like that,” DeBruin said. “We knew what to expect from them tonight defensively. We knew they were going to play zone and we just couldn’t execute in the first half.”
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