SECOND HALF COLLAPSE SPELLS 80-62 DEFEAT FOR WOLVERINES

When Bridgton Academy executed perfectly on the first possession of the second half to take a 35-34 lead against host St. Thomas More in the Prides Corner Championship it appeared like the Wolverines had turned an important corner in the season. Some solid play on both ends of the court including a game opening steal by Brendan Allen (Windsor, CT) off some pressure defense locked the two NEPSAC foes in a virtual deadlock at halftime. Unfortunately for the visiting Wolverines, the host Chancellors had a different agenda and played smart and aggressive basketball to soundly defeat BA highlighted by a 10-0 run five minutes into a second half that looked like it might head for a second day of fantastic finishes. BA shot itself in the foot with poor execution, mental mistakes, and shoddy defense, a deadly combination for winning on the road on any level.

BA Coach Lesure was complimentary of the opponents efforts in putting away his team, while less than impressed with the overall mental and physical approach of the Wolverine team in the second half. “ St. Thomas More is good. Very good. They have a lot of pieces including a coach who knows something about success. That being said, in my heart I don’t believe we really put up too much of a fight, and that is certainly disappointing. You know in prep ball you don’t have forever to grow up and right now we have some serious growing up to do on our team. If you want to say that we look poorly coached at times, that would be an accurate statement too. I probably need to make some calls to some coaches who know something about Motion offenses because we’re playing without one right now," said Lesure.

The road doesn’t get any easier for Bridgton as the #1 team in the country, NEPSAC powerhouse Brewster Academy visits North Bridgton on Wednesday evening for a AAA North division matchup followed by a return game with St. Thomas More in the first round of the Bridgton Winter Classic on Friday night at the Wolverdome. This coming week’s games will be among the final chances to see the 2011 Wolverines in action at home as the schedule turns nasty and features a slew of road contests to highlight the late season.