Two wins in as many nights left the Cape Elizabeth boys basketball team at 12-2 for the season with just four games to play entering this week. Last Friday’s 56-46 come-from-behind win against previously undefeated Traip Academy and Saturday’s 54-45 victory at Wells has the Capers sitting at the No. 2 position in the most recent West B Heal Point standings.
“Every team we’re playing down the stretch is a tournament-bound team, so we’re looking to be able to execute at critical moments,” said Cape Elizabeth coach Jim Ray after the Wells contest.
And execute they did against a pesky Wells squad that battled the Capers for all 32 minutes of play. Cape led 18-13 after one quarter and 24-17 at the half before their full-court pressure defense slowed the Warriors and allowed the Capers to take control of the game. That zone press allowed Cape to outscore Wells by a 19-8 margin in the third and the Capers secured the win in the fourth with substitutes getting plenty of minutes in that final period.
“There are some pretty good athletes out there and when they all get moving together that’s when we’re at our best and that’s when we can generate some stuff offensively. It gets us going,” Ray said about his squad’s pressure defense. “The better teams in the tournament can handle the press and they don’t turn it over as much, so you’ve also got to be ready to play a solid half-court game.”
Junior forward Alex Bowe led the way for the Capers with 16 points. Andrew Dickey added nine points, Johnny Messina chipped in with eight points, and Woody Tabery contributed seven.
On Friday night, the Capers trailed the visitors from Traip by a 27-16 margin at the half and 40-29 entering the fourth quarter. Cape rallied in the last eight minutes to outscore the Rangers 27-6 down the stretch to gain the win.
“We were out of sync and we got our backs up against the wall,” said Ray. “We put the pressure on them defensively and we got some momentum. And we knocked down some threes in that run.”
Andrew Dickey had three of those three-pointers and he finished with a team-high 16 points. Tabery pitched in with 14 points and Bowe added 10 in a game that saw the Capers come out a bit sluggish before responding with a huge fourth period.
Cape hosted Freeport (11-3) on Tuesday and they will host Falmouth (10-4) on Friday. The Capers conclude the regular season next week with games at Yarmouth (12-2) and at Greely (10-4).
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