At Fort Fairfield, PVHS seniors Andy Williams and Ryan Thompson carried the offensive load in a Class C boys preliminary as the #10 Howlers beat the #7 Fort Fairfield Tigers 49-36. The win avenged a defeat at the hands of Fort Fairfield in the same round two years ago.
The offenses sputtered early on for both teams in the game. After the Tigers took an 8-4 lead led by five points from junior Blake Senal, Penobscot Valley scored five unanswered to take a 9-8 lead into the 2nd quarter.
The inside/outside combination of Thompson and Williams took over in the second. Thompson bullied his way for eight points in the paint during the frame, while Williams started heating up and connected on a pair of three-pointers. A Thompson layup off an offensive rebound put the Howler lead up to 11 points. A quick inbounds pass to Chase Coiley and a 3/4 court heave that banked in at the buzzer cut the Fort Fairfield deficit to eight at the break 25-17.
The two teams played fairly even in the third, with PVHS outscoring the home team 10-9 and stretching their lead to nine. Four points from Thompson, and three each from Williams and Gabe Reed paced the way. Fort Fairfield had three players hit a three-pointer each.
In the fourth, the seniors Thompson and Gabe Castonguay scored six each, while another senior Gabe Castonguay helped close the game adding four points. Like most Howler victories this year, defense was the storyline as they held the Tigers to 36 points. It was the 12th game out of 17 played that the PVHS defense held their opponent to 40 points or fewer. Williams and Thompson were the leading scorers in the game with 19 and 18 points respectively. Blake Senal led Fort Fairfield with 11, as the Tigers end their season at 10-8.
With the victory, Penobscot Valley (9-8) punched their ticket to the Cross Center in Bangor where they’ll meet up with number the #2 seed and perennial powerhouse George Stevens Academy (15-2) at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday in a Class C quarterfinal.
PVHS: 9 25 35 49
Fort: 8 17 26 36
PVHS: Gabe Reed 2-1-6, Isaac Doore, Gabe Castonguay 2-2-6, Andy Williams 5-5-19, Colin Dunn, Ryan Thompson 8-2-18, Colin Harding
Fort: Joel Cormier, Josh Gill 2-0-6, Blake Senal 4-0-11, Eli Lyons, Brett Senal, Chase Coiley 4-0-10, Micah Daigle 0-1-1, Zak Gerhauser 0-1-1, Dominick Barnes 1-0-2
3 point FG/ PVHS: Reed, Williams (4),
Fort Fairfield: Gill (2), Blake Senal (3), Coiley (2)
