Friday, January 28, 2011

BRIDGTON ACADEMY 63 ST. THOMAS MORE 60

Dust off the clichés. “What a difference a day makes" or ”wins and losses come in different sizes." The Wolverines defeated one of the very best teams in New England with an all around team effort and significantly improved execution on Friday night to advance to the championship game of the Winter Classic played in honor of Martha Flint '52. The two teams battled evenly throughout the first half and St. Thomas More held a slim 29-28 advantage at the break.

It was close throughout the second half with neither team able to build a lead bigger than five points. Donnie Hale (New Albany, IN) played his best game of the year in leading the BA effort, finishing with a game high 20 points on a variety of inside and outside moves. He was not alone in putting up his best effort. Kareem Canty (New York, NY) (13 pts) and Corey Spence (Baltimore, MD) led a much more balanced attack in the backcourt with heady decision making throughout critical stretches of the game. The "Brazilian Beast" Daniel Franca (Sao Paulo, Brazil) was strong inside on both ends of the court proving that you do not need to score to play a vital role in a basketball game.

Coach Lesure was elated with the outcome in his comments afterwards. "First off, all the credit goes to the guys in our locker room. They know what went into this one. Our focus is always on getting better, but that is not an even or always pretty path. We certainly played better tonight,” Lesure said.

The Wolverines will face Notre Dame Prep in the championship game on Saturday afternoon at 2pm with St. Thomas More facing off against MCI at noon.

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