BANGOR- Ethan Daigle led all scorers with 18 points, and Lance Gagnon added 15 more on Friday night in leading the Fort Kent Warriors to a 48-34 Class C boys semifinal win over the Dexter Tigers at the Cross Insurance Center.
The #2 seed Fort Kent would never trail in the game. Daigle scored 11 in the opening quarter, and the Warriors would lead 13-11. It was tied at 15-15 late in the second as the scoring slowed down, but baskets by Gagnon, Daigle, and a three-pointer by Bryce Valcourt at the buzzer would give Fort Kent a 22-15 halftime lead. The box and one defense they deployed against Tigers senior forward and leading scorer Will Kusnierz held him to just five points in the opening 16 minutes. They would continue the spurt in the third quarter by scoring the first six points (13-0 run) for a 28-15 advantage, and 13 is the closest Dexter would get the rest of the way. Daigle was held to five points in the second half, but Gagnon stepped up with 11 as the lead eventually went to 19 as the Warriors advance to their first ever regional final appearance.
Daigle added 10 rebounds to his game-high point total in the win, while Gagnon had seven boards. Also scoring for 16-4 Fort Kent was Valcourt with six points, Tyler Ryder with four points and nine rebounds, Will Morneault three points, and Keegan Cyr chipped in two points. FK outrebounded Dexter 30-15, but the Tigers kind of hung around at times in the second half due to the Warriors shooting 2-17 from the foul line (2-14 in the fourth quarter). Kusnierz in his final game would finish with 15 points and seven rebounds, with 10 of those coming in the second half. Kayden Kimball contributed eight points, Bryce Connor had three, while Kellen Peavey, Ethan Doherty, Will Spratt, and Ben Bourgoin had two points a piece in the loss for #3 Dexter who ends the season with a record of 17-3. The Warriors will play Calais in the regional final on Saturday night at 8:45 p.m.
Recap by Chris Lessner/Photos by Lisa Prescott/Videos by Gabe Nason
