Boys basketball: Skowhegan survives late Cony charge

AUGUSTA — A two-win Gardiner team is all that stands between the Skowhegan boys basketball team and the postseason, and on Monday night the River Hawks passed their final pre-tournament test.

After watching a 20-point third-quarter lead dwindle down to just five with 1:09 to play, Skowhegan survived a Cony push for a 91-79 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference win. Kyle LePage led six River Hawks in double figures with 18 points and eight rebounds, while guard Quintcey McCray added 15 points.

“That was our last road game, and we really needed that one,” McCray said. “That was a big win for us. I think we just carried the momentum from that 1-point win over Brewer last time out.”

Skowhegan improved to 11-6 and upped its bid to secure a top-three seed in the Class A North regional tournament.

“They’re a good team and they can go score in bunches,” said Skowhegan coach Tom Nadeau. “We were fortunate to hold them off.”

Ahead 46-28 at the break, the River Hawks answered a 7-2 Ram run with seven straight points — capped by Adam Savage’s dunk for a 55-35 lead with 5:20 left in the third.

“We tried to treat the last three or four games like a tournament,” said Savage, who finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, one of two River Hawks with double-doubles. “We came into this prepared the same way, ready to go.”

Cony (10-7) was led by 24 points from junior guard Parker Sergent, who scored 11 in the final period.

Down 13 at the start of the fourth, 65-52, Cony erupted for 10 straight to make it a 67-62 contest with 6:32 remaining. The Rams hung tough, getting deep 3-point field goals from Sergent and Brady Hopkins, but could get no closer than 82-77.

“That’s their pace of play,” Savage said. “It’s super back and forth, it’s a game of runs, they hit a few shots, we hit a few shots. You definitely come in prepared for that, but you try to slow down as much as possible.”

Aided by a pair of LePage hoops in the paint and some free throw work from Patrick McKenney (12 points), Skowhegan closed things out with a 9-2 run for some breathing room at the finish line.

“We made the plays that we needed to,” Nadeau said. “Our composure, on the road against a team that presses, we’ve just got to understand better that we have to relax, focus and take care of things.”

Skowhegan played a nearly flawless second quarter to set it up with some breathing room at the intermission.

The River Hawks outscored the Rams 24-9 in the period on 10 of 20 shooting with only two turnovers. Cony, on the other hand, slumped, hitting only 2 of its 14 attempts from the floor over the same stretch.

The poor Cony shooting was exacerbated by Skowhegan’s dominance in the paint, with the River Hawks out-rebounding their hosts 21-9 in the first half and 43-14 for the night.

“It’s awesome,” McCray said. “You throw up shots as a guard, and you know they should be there for the rebound 85 percent of the time. It’s really good having those (big) guys down there.”

Collin LePage enjoyed an 11-point, 10-rebound night, while Brayden Saucier added 11 points in the win.

Alex Fournier finished with 20 points, including four field goals from beyond the arc, for Cony. Kam Douin chipped in with 12.