SCARBOROUGH – They knew he was coming. They knew what he could do. And for a while, the Scarborough Red Storm contained Bonny Eagle’s Dustin Cole – one of Maine’s best basketball players. For a while, but not long enough, and the visiting Scots (13-3) went home with a 59-58 win in overtime last Friday night.
With the win, Bonny Eagle holds on to the fifth spot in Class A West, while the Red Storm (10-6) drop to seventh. The Scots next take on Westbrook on Tuesday, while Scarborough hosts Thornton Academy next, also on Tuesday.
On Friday night, the first quarter ended with Bonny Eagle up by a point, 7-6, after a slow start for both teams. Cole was held scoreless. The first half ended with the Storm on top, 26-22, but Cole had started shooting and scoring. He had 10 points in the quarter, including 3 for 3 shooting from the foul line. CJ Autry was a perfect 5 for 5 from the foul line. For their part, the Storm were firing away from long range, and hitting. Kevin Manning made three 3-point shots in the second quarter, and Brendan Hall, Dillon Russo and John Wheeler each had one.
The third quarter ended with the Storm still on top, 44-38. The Storm had baskets from five different players, including seven points from Sam Terry, while only Cole and Jon Thomas could reach the bottom of the basket. Thomas scored all his points – nine – in the third quarter.
Nearing the end of regulation, the Scots had battled back. A one-handed 3-point shot from Autry tied the score at 51-51, followed by a steal and lay-up by Cole put them up 53-51 with just over two minutes to play. Thirty seconds later, Scarborough’s Brendan Hall took a feed down low and put in a jump shot to tie the score at 53-53. Both teams had chances to win it, but nothing fell.
In overtime, the Scots’ Nick Dubay had a 3-point shot, while Cole added a field goal and a foul shot that turned out to be the game winner, after driving hard to the net and taking the foul.
Cole led all scorers with 26 points, including two 3-point shots. Autry added 17 points and Jon Thomas tossed in nine.
For Scarborough, Manning scored 16 points, with four baskets from beyond the 3-point arc. Terry scored 15 points, Russo scored 11 points and Wheeler scored seven points. Terry, Russo and Wheeler each threw in two 3-point shots.
Dustin Cole gives the crowd a taste of his talent, throwing in a left-handed bank shot while being fouled and falling down. He made the foul shot for a three-point play.
Kevin Manning (41) puts a big fake on Bonny Eagle’s Ben Malloy to draw a foul in the fourth quarter.
Sam Terry (11) goes up past three defenders for a shot in the low post.
Kevin Manning (41) puts a big fake on Bonny Eagle’s Ben Malloy to draw a foul in the fourth quarter.
CJ Autry (32) gets the party started for Bonny Eagle, scoring the first two points of the game from the low post.
Dillon Russo (2) gets the ball out ahead on the fast break, makes an acrobatic drive to the hoop, but is unable to get off a good shot.
Bonny Eagle fans turned out in large numbers to help support their team on the road.
Despite the nice shooting form, Sam Terry (11) is pressured into a miss on a jump shot from the baseline.
Dillon Russo puts in a shot from beyond the arc for the Red Storm.
Brendan Hall goes down hard after being fouled on a drive to the basket.
After running down the clock to 34 seconds left in overtime, Dustin Cole drives to the hoop and draws a foul from Sam Wessel – his fifth, which send him to the bench. With the Scots ahead 59-58, Cole had a chance to widen the lead, but missed his first foul shot.
Scarborough’s Dan Leclair (31) and Bonny Eagle’s CJ Autry (32) battle for a loose ball.
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