BANGOR- The Dexter Tigers built a 13 point third quarter lead, and then had to hold off the Lee Academy Pandas for a 50-40 Maine Principals’ Association Class C boys quarterfinal win at the Cross Insurance Center on Monday night.
It was a game of runs, as Dexter never trailed and built a 10-2 lead helped by five first quarter points by Ethan Doherty. Lee then went on a 6-0 run to cut it to 10-8 at the end of eight minutes, before the Tigers ran off seven straight at the start of the second for a 17-8 advantage. It was the Pandas turn to make a spurt as four points from Jackson Sabattus sparked an 8-2 run to slice the deficit to 19-16. But a late three-pointer by Bryce Connor and a jumper by Kellen Peavey just before the buzzer had Dexter up 24-16 at the halftime break. They extended that 5-0 run to 10-0 at the beginning of the third quarter for their biggest lead of the night 29-16 that was capped off by a three-pointer by Doherty. Lee Academy kept battling, cutting it to seven on three different occasions in the fourth the last time being with 2:02 left to play. The Tigers would ice the victory by going 9-11 from the foul line in the period, including 6-6 in the last two minutes.
Connor led Dexter in the win with 14 points. Kayden Kimball and Will Kusnierz both had 12 points. Also scoring was Doherty with eight points and five rebounds, while Will Spratt and Peavey had two points a piece. The third seeded Tigers are now 17-2 and will play either Fort Kent or George Stevens Academy in a Thursday afternoon semifinal. Nick Allard had 16 points and 10 rebounds in the loss for Lee Academy. Andrew Scott added 10 points. Also on the scoresheet for the Pandas was Sabattus with eight points, and Finn Knowles, Austin Beach, along with Ethan Linscott with two points a piece as the #6 seed ends their season with a record of 11-9.
Recap by Chris Lessner/Photos by Anthony DelMonaco/Video by Marc Calnan
