LISBON FALLS

Facing a talented Wiscasset team that rolled to a 67-42 victory back in December, Jake Gentle’s Greyhounds looked to show the Wolverines how far they have come despite coming in with a 2-8 record on Thursday.

Wiscasset, after a hard-fought 65- 54 come-from-behind Mountain Valley Conference victory, was thankful to leave Lisbon with a 7-4 record after the Greyhounds (2-9) gave every bit of themselves through four quarters of hard, fast-paced high school basketball.

“I told the kids coming in that I had seen Lisbon play recently and they have the right attitude and are improving,” said Wiscasset coach Dana Lawrence, whose Wolverines host Madison Saturday night. “We tried to work on our intensity, and not just take the threes all the time.”

“I thought we played well offensively, and defensively we forced them into some uncomfortable spots,” said Gentle. But give Wiscasset credit. They made eight 3-pointers, and got too many offensive rebounds for us. We didn’t play for about three or four minutes. We have to play the full 32 minutes. We are getting there though.”

During that four-minute thirdquarter stretch, Wiscasset turned a 36-31 deficit into a 47-36 lead with a 15-0 run. Travis Padilla was the catalyst, scoring 14 of his game-high 28 points during the spurt, including four treys.

“We have been waiting for Travis to step up and shoot like that, knowing he could shoot that well,” said Lawrence.

“I was feeling it after I hit that first deep one,” said Padilla. “I have been waiting all season to shoot like this, not having shot like this since the eighth-grade. We were stronger on the defensive end in the second half. I was very surprised how hard Lisbon came out and played today. They really outplayed us the whole game, outrebounding us and getting after it.”

Lisbon managed to battle back, cutting the deficit down to three points, 47-44, after an 8-0 run that ended early in the fourth quarter. Wiscasset pulled it together again, using an 11-4 spurt for a 58-48 lead with 3:35 remaining. Padilla added eight more points to his totals in the quarter.

Lisbon early

Tied 6-6 in the first quarter, Brad Groh and Tucker Brannon helped Lisbon to an 8-0 run for a 14-6 lead. Groh scored seven points, pulled down six rebounds and blocked five shots, while Brannon picked up five points in the opening quarter as the Greyhounds led 15-11.

“It starts with the coach, who gives us something to work through, and after having the flu yesterday, I was playing unconsciously in the first half,” said Groh, who finished with nine points, nine rebounds and eight blocked shots. “This is a great effort. We are just trying to put it all together.”

“This was Brad’s best game of the year after fouling out against Wiscasset the last time,” said Gentle. “When we have him on the inside, blocking shots, and Tucker and the other guys making their shots, we are competitive. I think if we can bring tonight’s energy the rest of the way, there are teams we will be competitive with the rest of the season.”

Brannon kept Lisbon in the lead throughout most of the second quarter. He had 14 first-half points as the Greyhounds went to the intermission leading 28-26.

Back-to-back baskets by Brannon gave the ’Hounds a 36-31 lead early in the third quarter. Brannon paced Lisbon with 20 points and had five steals. Mason Haley and Kyle Bourget chipped in 10 points each, while Nick Collins dished out four assists.

The Greyhounds shot 44 percent from the floor (20 of 45) and made 10 of 16 free throws.

For Wiscasset, Padilla had 10 rebounds for a double-double. Chandler Longfellow chipped in 11 points and three assists, while Dale Peaslee scored all nine of his points in the second half.

“Chandler Longfellow has been coming around, and Dale Peaslee and Austin Haskell (seven assists) are big parts of this team,” said Lawrence, who watched his team control the boards 25-19. “Not having our top rebounder Dylan (McMahon) out there (out with a lower leg injury), we had to step up and get some rebounds underneath.”

Wiscasset was 21 of 54 (38 percent) from the floor after a sizzling second half (12 of 21, 57 percent), and made 15 of 22 from the charity stripe.

Wiscasset 65, Lisbon 54

At Lisbon Falls
Wiscasset — 11 15 21 18 — 65
Lisbon — 15 13 13 13 — 54
Wiscasset — John Rines 2-0-6, Chandler Longfellow 3-3-11, Austin Haskell 2-0-4, Dale Peaslee 3-3-
9, Travis Padilla 8-8-28, Zach Ellison 1-0-2, Matt
Craig 0-1-1, JD Souza 2-0-4, Tom Anderson 0-0-0,
Matt Johnson 0-0-0. Totals — 21-15-65.
Lisbon — Mason Haley 4-1-10, Kendal Roy 0-0-0,
Tucker Brannon 8-3-20, Nick Collins 1-0-2, Brad
Groh 2-5-9, Kyle Sheehan 1-1-3, Kyle Bourget 4-0-
10, Johnny Yim 0-0-0, Ryan Brewer 0-0-0. Totals —
20-10-54.
3-point goals — (W) Rines 2, Longfellow 2, Padilla
4; (L) Haley, Brannon, Bourget 2.
Records — Wiscasset 7-4, Lisbon 2-9.
Next — The Wolverines host Madison on Saturday,
while Lisbon visits Mountain Valley on Saturday.
Both games are set for 7 p.m. starts.