Houlton Defeats Presque Isle 63-61; Full Scoring and Recap

From Alumni Gymnasium as heard on The Rock 

The Houlton Shires hosted the Presque Isle Wildcats on Tuesday night in Class B north boys high school basketball action. Houlton is in the midst of a week where they play 5 games in 6 days, with their only non-game day being on Thursday.

Presque Isle came into the game at Alumni Gymnasium with a 8-6 record and #6 in the standings for Class B north. Houlton has a record of 5-5 and sitting at the #8 spot in Class B. In their first matchup on January 11, Presque Isle came out with a 72-64 victory.  

1st Quarter 

Houlton jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first 2 minutes of the game. After the timeout Presque Isle had a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 1 point. The chaotic pace continued throughout the remainder of the quarter with the teams' exchanging baskets. For Presque Isle Noah Yarema led the first quarter attack scoring 9 points and Malachi Cummings scored 8 points. Jackson Maynard hit a three-point field goal and Xavier McAtee scored 2 points. Collin Moody scored 5 points the jump-start the Houlton Shires. Caleb Solomon and Isaiah Gentle scored 4 points apiece with Cody Johnston and Garrett Harvey each scoring 2 points. After the first quarter Presque Isle held a 21-17 lead. 

2nd Quarter 

Both teams were able to settle in on the defensive side of the basketball, despite a continued frantic pace of play. Cummings put in (2) three-point field goals for 6 points, and McAtee scored 6 points in the second quarter for Presque Isle. Jack Hallett grabbed several rebounds and scored 2 points for the Wildcats. Gentle drilled a three-point shot on his way to 7 second quarter points for Houlton. The Shires got 4 points from Solomon and Isaiah Ervin, with Moody scoring 2 points. Going into halftime the Wildcats of Presque Isle held a slim 35-34 lead.  

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3rd Quarter 

The back-and-forth play continued with the two teams swapping one-point leads through a majority of the third quarter. Jack Hallett did everything he could to help the Wildcats, making several key defensive plays and scoring 4 points. Maynard and Yarema added 4 points apiece and McAtee scored 2 points in the third quarter. Houlton was led in the third quarter by Cody Johnston's 5 points. The Shires got 3 points apiece from Solomon and Ervin, with Gentle scoring 2 points. Presque Isle ended the third quarter leading Houlton 49-47. 

4th Quarter 

As the final quarter began both teams kept an up-and-down game as with Houlton knocking down a three-point shot to take a one-point lead. Both teams would exchange leads as they had all game as the quarter progressed. Once again Hallett was the man for the Wildcats offense, providing a spark and 6 points in the fourth quarter. Yarema scored 4 points and McAtee had 2 points for Presque Isle. Caleb Solomon put the Shires on his back and scored 8 huge points down the stretch. Isaiah Ervin made 1 of 2 free-throws with 5.7 seconds left to give Houlton a 2-point lead. The Houlton defense did not allow Presque Isle to get a clean look as time wound down. Ervin scored 5 points in the fourth quarter and Gentle scored 3 points. Houlton wins by a final score of 63-61.  

Caleb Solomon finished with a game-high 19 points for Houlton, with Gentle finishing with 16 points and Ervin totaled 12 points for the victorious Shires. Presque Isle was led by Yarema's 17 points with Cummings adding 13 points. Xavier McAtee and Jack Hallett each scored 12 points for the Wildcats.

Up Next

Houlton (6-5) will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to take on Orono. Presque Isle (8-7) will host Foxcroft Academy on Saturday in the Star-City. 101.9 The Rock will be broadcasting Houlton at Presque Isle girls from Presque Isle on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.