CAPE ELIZABETH — Cape Elizabeth’s boys’ basketball team beat Wells by 30 points two months ago in the season opener, but the sixth-ranked Capers expected a much closer game when the 11th-seeded Warriors visited Tuesday evening in a Class B South preliminary-round playoff game.
And it was closer, but not much, as Cape Elizabeth won 58-43. The Capers weren’t their usual prolific scoring selves, but their defense was superb.
Evan Reeves, a 6-foot-8 junior, led the Capers with a double-double and Owen Tighe also wound up in double figures. Cape (12-7) advanced to take on No. 3 York (13-2) in the quarterfinals at 4 p.m. Friday at the Portland Exposition Building.
“I told the guys all week that the (Wells) team we were going to see tonight would be very different from December and they were,” said Capers Coach Jeff Mitchell. “They really gave us a fight tonight and I never really felt comfortable. We did enough of the right things.”
Reeves made life miserable for Wells in the first quarter, scoring six points, grabbing five rebounds, blocking a shot and setting up Will Bowe, Jake Frame and Sam Lombardo for 3-pointers. But the Warriors were still within five points, 17-12, heading to the second quarter, thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from Devin Brown.
Wells got another 3-pointer from Brown with 7:03 to go but didn’t score again until the final minute of the half. By then, 3-pointers from Bowe and Frame opened it up again and the Capers took a 29-19 advantage to the break.
Connor Woodward opened the second half with a layup to pull the Warriors within eight, but that’s as close as they got as Tighe sparked a 12-2 run with a layup and a 3-pointer.
Cape Elizabeth never let Wells get closer than 11 points, 43-32, in the final quarter, and a basket from Tighe and a 3-point shot from Reeves essentially put it away.
“Wells was prepared, but we were able to pull away and we kept our lead up there,” said Reeves, who finished with a game-high 16 points, as well as 13 rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots.
Tighe added 14 points and eight rebounds, and Bowe finished with nine points and Frame and Lombardo each contributed eight.
“We knew what to expect,” said Frame, who also had nine rebounds and five assists. “We knew they were coming in with an underdog mentality and we had to play our best to win it.”
The Warriors got 15 points from Brown, but couldn’t overcome an early deficit.
“The bottom line is (Cape’s) size, athleticism and shooting ability is very tough to guard,” said Wells Coach Troy Brown. “I thought my kids played exceptionally hard.
“I thought we got much better from the first game to the end. I don’t think a lot of people wanted to play us in the tournament.”
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