Pandas Survive Wolverines' Late Flurry

The Lee Academy Pandas traveled from the depths of the Maine wilderness to take on Bridgton Academy in North Bridgton on Tuesday night. For Bridgton it was their third game in four days, and Lee was participating in their third contest in as many days, a rescheduled match up from Wednesday.

The first half was a closely contested battle that saw Lee lead throughout, but only hold a slight 32-31 advantage at the break.

In the second half the Pandas came out strong starting with an 8-0 run to distance themselves from the hosts. The lead reached double digits with 13:26 to play as Lee went up 48-37, the Pandas would enjoy their largest advantage with 12:26 to play as they went up 13.

Paul Dick (Belfast, Ireland) hit a three with 7:42 to play to bring the deficit back to single numbers, 54-45. The Lee advantage was back to 13 however just 1:04 later thanks to four straight points by Malik Dean. Bridgton used a 13-5 run over a 3:09 stretch to bring themselves within one point at 65-64, with just 2:06 to play.

Following a time out Bridgton needed a defensive stop, to get a chance to take their first lead of the game. Ruben Kanya (Hamilton, Ontario) drew what appeared to be an offensive player control foul that would negate the converted layup and give Bridgton the ball back, however it was called a blocking foul and sent Vaughn Allen to the line with a chance to put the Pandas up by four. Allen converted the three point play to put Lee up 68-64 with 25.7 seconds to play. It was too much too late for Bridgton as Chance Jones (Knoxville, TN) hit a three at the buzzer for a final of 69-67.

"They just out played us, including the start of each half," Head Coach Whit Lesure said following the game. He went on to say, "We couldn't get a stop at the end, and had a hard time getting one all night."

Alex Harris (Richmond, CA) led the Wolverines in scoring with 23 points, Jones finished with 19 and Kanya contributed 10.

Lesure said, "We weren't the aggressors until the very end, give Lee credit they controlled play," Bridgton never saw a lead in the game, "we did not shoot well enough to make up for the other errors we had." The coach was quick to point out his own shortcomings of the day by saying, "I had no more positive impact than many of our players did," referring to his decisions late in the game.

Bridgton will next travel to University of Rhode Island this weekend to compete in the National Prep School Invitational Tournament.

Lesure's final contention was that, "Quinn Allen would have called a charge for certain."