Bangor Christian boys basketball would open their season on Tuesday night with a close one point come from behind win 34-33 over Penobscot Valley (PVHS).
The Patriots were led by juniors Jalen Reed and Conrad Straubel in this one as they accounted for 27 of the their teams 34 points. The game would start as a back-and-forth affair until PVHS would pull away at the end of the first quarter going on a 5-0 run. That run would continue as the Howlers extended their lead to nine as the first half ended making the score 22-13 at the break. Gabe Reed would lead the Howlers in the first half with six points, while Jalen Reed would have nine for the Patriots halfway through. Bangor Christian would come out strong to start the second half however going on a 7-1 run slimming the lead down to three, with all those points being scored by Straubel a majority of which would come from the line where he went 4-4 from the stripe in the period. In the fourth and final frame, Bangor Christian would lead for the first time 31-29 after scoring eight unanswered points in less than a minute span. Reed said after the game, “I felt like defensively we really turned it on, we knew that if we wanted to win it would start on the defensive side of the ball”. Straubel would provide a little insight into what caused his third quarter barrage, “I just got angry, I just didn’t want to lose, I wanted to win and so I gave everything I could to make that happen.”
Reed would lead the Patriots in points (17), rebounds (3), and steals (4), while Colton White would lead the team in blocks with two. Gabe Reed and Nate Schnarff would lead the Howlers with nine points each. Reed also led in rebounds and assists with five and two respectively. The Patriots (1-0) play Wednesday evening at Schenck (1-1), while the Howlers (1-1) play the Lakers of Greenville (1-1) on Saturday.
