Boys’ basketball: Gilman lifts Windham to quarterfinal win
Mike Gilman surpasses the 1,000-point plateau as the Eagles beat Bangor.
WINDHAM — Mike Gilman won the race to 1,000 points, keying Windham High to a 78-62 AA North boys’ basketball quarterfinal win Tuesday against Bangor.
Gilman, a senior guard, needed 26 points to join teammate Nick Curtis in Windham’s 1,000-point club. He got there with 4:26 left in the third quarter.
Bangor junior guard/forward Matt Fleming, who had torched the Eagles for 29 and 45 points in two regular-season games, was just eight points shy of the coveted career mark. Fleming hit 1,000 with 5:14 left in the game after Windham had built an 18-point lead.
“I wasn’t worried about it at all,” Gilman said of the individual goal. “I didn’t expect to get it tonight. I was worried about playing defense and getting a win tonight. I felt good, I hit a couple shots and my shot felt good so if it feels good, I’m just going to keep shooting.”
Gilman scored 29 points with seven 3-pointers on 10 of 13 shooting. Fleming finished with 13 points, seven in the fourth quarter.
No. 4 Windham (14-5) will face No. 1 Portland in at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday’ in a regional semifinal at the Cross Insurance Arena. Portland beat Windham 61-44 in the second game of the season.
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For Windham, Curtis added 22 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists, and Cory Hutchison scored 14, including nine in the Eagles’ 25-15 third-quarter surge.
No. 5 Bangor (9-10) was playing hours after Coach Carl Parker resigned after being charged with OUI following a weekend one-car traffic accident. Junior varsity coach Jon McAllian said he found out Tuesday morning he would be coaching. Parker had coached Monday’s practice.
“I tried to do everything that I could control. I mean, I’d coached the JVs. It’s not like I’m with these guys every day. I just tried to keep their spirits up,” McAllian said.
Gilman, known as a potent shooter, struggled with his shot at times this season. He made his first six shots Tuesday as Windham jumped ahead 22-8.
“Mike did an excellent job tonight just wanting to win and the shots came and his rhythm came back by just focusing on getting to the next game,” said Windham Coach Chad Pulkkinen. “He needs to hit shots for our team and I thought he didn’t force any shots tonight.”
Bangor twice cut the lead to three and trailed 37-32 at the half despite two points from Fleming.
Pulkkinen called on sturdy sophomore Chris Naylor, who had played sparingly this season, to play Fleming one-on-one.
“I was just in to guard Fleming and try to hold him to as little as I could,” Naylor said. “It was a team goal to try to keep him under 1,000 tonight.”
Naylor stayed in front of Fleming’s drives, altered shots and avoided fouls. Fleming also didn’t force shots, especially as Bangor guard Damien Vance was scoring 20 of his team-high 24 points in the first half.
After a 16-point first half, Gilman promptly drained three 3s in 3 minutes, then drove past Fleming for a layup at the rim that put Windham ahead 56-43. Fleming answered with a jumper. That was as close as Bangor got the rest of the way.
Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or:
Twitter: SteveCCraig
