BANGOR — It was as if Aaron Toman had been told the first half didn’t count. For two quarters, the Gardiner Area High School center was barely noticed on the Bangor Auditorium court.
But when Toman got going, he more than made up for lost time.
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Toman scored all of his team-high 18 points in the second half, including 10 in the fourth quarter, as the No. 6 Tigers pulled off a 57-44 upset against No. 3 Presque Isle.
Gardiner, now 14-5, will face the winner of this morning’s game between No. 10 Nokomis and No. 2 Ellsworth in the regional semifinals. Presque Isle ended its season at 17-2.
“The first half, I didn’t show up at all,” Toman, who also had 11 rebounds, six offensive, said. “In the second half I got my act together.”
In the first half, the Wildcats kept the ball out of Toman’s hands with a strong zone defense. Gardiner’s leading scorer, averaging close to 15 points per game, the 6-foot-2 Toman only took two shots in the first half.
“I think he was shell-shocked a little bit,” Gardiner coach Jason Cassidy said. “Those are big, athletic guys over there.”
The Tigers got Toman open in the second half by flashing him to the high post. When two defenders attacked Jake Palmer’s dribble penetration, Toman was left open. He also scored on a number of second chance baskets.
Toman scored eight consecutive points in the fourth quarter, as Gardiner pulled away. His layup with two minutes, 22 seconds left gave the Tigers a 53-42 lead.
“A lot of his stuff comes through Jake Palmer, and Jake has to buy into it, too,” Cassidy said. “We made our diagonal cuts a little better, and we let Tol flash high.”
Even without Toman’s offense, Gardiner led 28-27 at the half. Mike Trahan scored eight of his 13 points in the first half, and Kaleb Smith scored all eight of his before the break.
Defensively, Gardiner did a nice job on the Wildcats’ frontcourt tandem of Alex Tuttle and Oliver Zubrick, holding each to eight points.
“Tuttle, we wanted to keep him out of the middle, but he hit some tough shots,” Toman said. “Zubrick is more physical. We just had to box him out.”
Palmer had nine points for the Tigers. Travis Dyer scored a game-high 22 for Presque Isle.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
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