POLAND — Freeport’s size advantage and timely playmaking were a little too much for Poland on Saturday.
The Knights fought back throughout the game and got within striking distance a few times, but JT Pound and the Falcons had an answer each time and pulled off a 78-69 road win in a Western Maine Conference boys basketball game at Poland Regional High School.
Pound used his size to score in the post and his shooting touch to hit three 3-pointers, and he put up a team-high 29 points. Two of Freeport’s other tall players, Cody Wall and Will Maneikis, contributed 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Poland sophomore John Patenaude led all scorers with 33 points. Senior Hayden Christner made six 3s and finished with 19 points.
The Falcons (3-3) seized an early lead by scoring the game’s first seven points.
Patenaude came off the bench and scored the Knights’ first points of the game, spurring their first rally. Patenaude scored Poland’s first 10 points and Hayden Christner ended the first quarter with a buzzer beating 3-pointer that cut Freeport’s lead to 19-13.
The Knights (2-5) opened the second with a pair of 3s to tie the game at 19-19, and another 3 gave them their first lead, 22-21. But their many fouls in the first quarter haunted them and Freeport’s size advantage became daunting.
Free throws and Pound propelled the Falcons on a 14-0 run that turned their one-point deficit into a 36-22 advantage.
The lead grew to 40-25, but Poland finished the half with an 8-0 run to cut Freeport’s lead to 40-33.
Patenaude and Damon Howze hit two 3s apiece in the second, and Christner and Gio Warren each made one.
Pound scored 11 in the quarter, and had 15 in the first half.
Treys by Christner and Shane Yorkey, and five points by Patenaude, put Poland within one point, 45-44, midway through the third quarter.
Pound spent most of the third on the bench after picking up his third foul, as did Connor Slocum, who picked up his fourth less than a minute after Pound was called for his third.
In Pound’s absence, Wall scored six points and the Falcons took a 51-46 lead into the fourth quarter.
Pound scored the first five points of the fourth and assisted on a bucket by Maneikis as the Falcons opened the final period with a 7-0 run.
Christner hit three 3s in the fourth, including a four-point play, and the Knights kept fighting, but the closest they got was within six points a few times.
This story will be updated.
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