Page 5 - Newsletter_Spring_2019

More Shire Success! Part 1

Boys Basketball Team Claims Class C North Championship

is story is based on articles by Joe Cyr ’89, Houlton
Pioneer Times and Ernie Clark and Pete Warner,
Bangor Daily News. e contents are reprinted with
permission.

Houlton dethrones three-time defending state
champion George Stevens in ‘C’ North fi nal

Keegan Gentle scored 18 points and senior guard
Nolan Porter added 14 as No. 4 Houlton knocked
off three-time defending state champion George
Stevens Academy of Blue Hill 54-34 in the Class C
North boys basketball fi nal at the Cross Insurance
Center in February.

Gentle, a junior guard, scored eight points in the
second quarter and eight more in the fourth period Houlton’s Keegan Gentle ’20 soars to the rim during the Class C North
as coach Tim Brewer’s fourth-seeded Shiretowners championship game. (photo courtesy of Joseph Cyr ’89, Houlton
Pioneer Times)
steadily pulled away from the third-ranked Eagles.
Porter shot 4 of 8 from beyond the 3-point arc.

“I just like to shoot threes,” said Porter, a senior guard. “It fi res me up and it fi res everybody else up, so I like to do
it.”

at off ense complemented a stout Houlton defense that allowed a George Stevens team, that scored nearly 70
points per game this season, to make just 13 fi eld goals in 41 attempts, or 32 percent.

“We knew GSA was a good off ensive team,” said Gentle, part of the Shiretowners’ defense that yielded only 33.3
points per game in its three Bangor tournament appearances. “Our plan was to put ball pressure on them and make
them feel a little nervous about our defense.”
e regional crown for Houlton is the fi rst since it captured the 2014 Class C state championship, and it also ended
a 15-game George Stevens tournament winning streak that dated back to a loss to Orono in the 2015 Eastern C
quarterfi nals.
“[George Stevens Academy] really had a hard time scoring on us,” Brewer said. “ en they started forcing some
things, but credit to these kids. I couldn’t be more happy with the eff ort they put out, especially on the defensive
side.”

George Stevens got its toughest test in last year’s regional from an eight-seeded Houlton club that battled the Eagles
before dropping a 54-43 quarterfi nal.

Last year’s disappointment became this year’s motivation for the Shiretowners.

“We felt really confi dent just because of the defense we’ve been playing,” Porter said. “We’ve really locked down on
defense. We’re feeling good, we think we can guard any team right now.”

at defensive confi dence was evident from the outset of the rematch as Houlton built a 25-15 halftime lead.

After spotting the Eagles two early baskets, Houlton took control with a full court man-to-man defense that forced
seven turnovers and limited George Stevens to 29 percent (6 of 21) shooting from the fi eld during the rest of the
half.
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