NEWPORT — Taylor Wilbur was in the zone, but he didn’t acknowledge it until the second half.
Wilbur, a senior guard on the Maranacook Community High School boys basketball team, made three 3-pointers in the first quarter of Tuesday night’s game at Nokomis. Wilbur made two more in the second quarter, and after he made another in the third, Wilbur knew it was a good night.
“After the first quarter, I was like, whatever,” Wilbur said. “Usually second half, if I’ve made that many, I’m not making them.”
Wilbur finished with a career-high eight 3-pointers, and those helped the Black Bears take an 89-65 win. Maranacook is 8-4, Nokomis 2-9.
Wilbur scored 34 points, all in the first three quarters.
“The thing that I’m very happy with, is they were good shots. His feet were set. It was within the flow of the offense. He did not force anything,” Maranacook coach Rob Schmidt said.
Trailing 19-14 late in the first quarter, Maranacook closed the period with a 12-0 run to take the lead for good. The Black Bears led by as much as 13 points in the second quarter before Nokomis senior Jake Winslow (12 points) made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull the Warriors within 10 points, 47-37, at the half.
“It was teamwork,” Wilbur said. “They were double teaming me, and I had guys wide open cutting to the hoop.”
The Black Bears pulled away with a 15-3 run in the third. While Maranacook made 11 3-pointers, the Black Bears also gave themselves plenty of second chances with 18 offensive rebounds.
“I think the key was their offensive rebounds, more than anything. Even though they hit the threes, that’s a lot of second chance points,” Nokomis coach Carl Parker said.
Eleven players scored for Maranacook. Kent Mohlar had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and did a nice job defensively on Andrew Cartright, Nokomis’ versatile wing. After scoring seven points in the first quarter, Cartright scored just eight the rest of the game and finished with a quiet 15 points.
“We wanted Mohlar to guard him all night, and Chris Beckwith switched up on him, and those two guys did a great job staying on him,” Schmidt said. “I just thought we played very hard from start to finish. We played smart.”
Added Wilbur: “If we shut (Cartright) down, we knew we’d get the win.”
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242tlazarczyk@centralmaine.comTwitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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