Southern Aroostook hangs on for victory over Bangor Christian in D North semis
Jalen Reed put Bangor Christian on his back on Wednesday night but couldn’t quite topple defending Class D champs Southern Aroostook, falling 41-28 in their D North semifinal at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
No. 1 Southern Aroostook (20-0) will face No. 3 Machias (16-4) on Saturday at 10:45 a.m. in the D North final.
Reed scored all eight of the Patriots’ points in the first quarter, keeping No. 4 Bangor Christian (16-4) within a reasonable range.
The junior finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Dylan Burpee paced the Warriors with 15 points.
On the Warriors’ side, four different players scored at least one basket and gave Southern Aroostook a 12-8 first quarter lead.
Bangor Christian started the second quarter with 3-pointers from Reed and Conrad Straubel to tie the game at 14-14 3:30 into the period. They turned out to be the only buckets of the quarter for the Patriots, who went into halftime down 19-14.
Reed scored twice in close to begin the third quarter and got the Patriots within three but at the 4:29 mark Reed bumped heads with Southern Aroostook’s Trafton Russell. Russell got up quickly but Reed stayed down for an extended period of time. Reed was then helped to the bench and stayed seated until the 2:48 mark. While Reed was gone, the Warriors tacked on two points to their lead and the Patriots trailed 28-24.
Southern Aroostook got six points from Dylan Burpee in the third and as the Warriors started the fourth they enjoyed a 30-24 lead.
Camden Porter and Burpee hit back-to-back 3-pointers to begin the fourth and stretched out a 36-24 advantage for the Warriors.