SKOWHEGAN — Skowhegan’s motion offense benefited from a little more emotion in the second half of Friday night’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference clash with Mount View.
Issac Witham and Brendan Curran combined for 17 of the Indians’ 20 points in the third quarter as Skowhegan flipped a five-point deficit to a nine-point lead and then closed out a 49-39 win.
Witham finished with a game-high 18 points, while Curran tallied 16 points and six rebounds. Devon Davis led the Mustangs (1-3) with 11 points, 10 rebounds and four steals.
The Indians’ 20-point outburst in the third eclipsed their total offensive production for a first half in which they shot 33 percent from the floor and scored 18 points.
“We’ve just been coming out slow lately,” Witham said. “Coach (Tom Nadeau) got on us a little bit and we picked up the intensity. That’s what good teams do when they come out, and we’ve got to learn to do that.”
Justin Lizotte (10 points) gave Mount View a 25-18 lead to start the second half, then Witham and Curren led a 10-2 run to give the Indians their first lead since early in the first quarter.
Cole Hannan’s inside hoop put the Mustangs in front one final time late in the third. Curran ignited a 10-0 Skowhegan (3-2) run to end the period with a strong drive to the hoop. Witham followed with back-to-back hoops, including a three-point play, then Curran made it 38-29 with a deep 3 with four seconds left.
“We lost our composure a little bit,” Mount View coach Chad Larrabee said. “We’re not in the position of being ahead and pulling out games. It’s pretty hard to practice that, but we’ll get there. We were pretty gassed out there so that might explain some of it.”
Mount View got the deficit as low as five in the fourth after Lizotte banked a 3-pointer from the top of the key midway through, but Cameron Barnes (eight points, eight rebounds) answered with the next five points to extend the Indians’ lead to double digits for the first time.
Tied 10-10 after the first period, Mount View opened the second with a 7-0 run, holding the Indians scoreless until Witham’s 3-pointer with 4:48 to go in the half.
Despite making just three of 15 shots in the quarter, the Mustangs led by as much as nine.
“We reminded guys that each and every night we’ve got to battle,” Nadeau said. “We can’t take anything for granted. We’ve got to come out ready to play. I thought at times we went through the motions in the first half. Credit Mount View because they came ready to play.”
A layup by Witham and two free throws by Garrett McSweeney (six points, eight rebounds) pulled Skowhegan back within 23-18 at halftime.
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.