PITTSFIELD- Pierce Walston and the Orono Red Riots traveled to Maine Central Institute to do battle with the Huskies in a boys Class B basketball season opener on Saturday afternoon, and came away with a 74-57 win at Wright Gymnasium.
Orono jumped out to a 12-0 lead to start the game and would never look back as they never trailed in the contest. They would get to the foul line 11 times in the first period. MCI would cut that deficit to three making it 17-14 late in the first quarter thanks to a run of their own of 14-5. That is as close as they’d get however, as the visitors would turn the gas back on in the second quarter to pull away again by as many as 17 and held a 45-30 advantage at the half. The second half was more of the same as Orono led by as much as 31 in the final quarter.
Walston would put on a strong performance to open the season with 26 points, four rebounds, five assists, and nine steals. He led the team in assists, points, and steals while Ben Francis, Will Francis, and Noah Schaff would tie for the team lead in rebounds with six a piece. Ben Francis and Will Francis also got in double figure scoring with 15 and 10 points respectively. Ellis Spauling chipped in with nine points on a trio of three-pointers, and also contributed defensively with five steals. The Red Riots ended up 16-32 at the foul line. Walston was named the Bangor Savings Bank Player of The Game. MCI was led by Brayden Fitts who had 11 points, Braeden Kennedy had nine, and Caleb Kennedy, Drew Shorey, and Cihan Guzeltas each had eight points.
