County Tournament Update: Wildcats and Panthers Advance, Four County Matchups Set for Thursday

Presque Isle and Central Aroostook both punched their tickets to Bangor last night, and both wins had the same theme, stay steady early, then slam the door in the second half.

• Presque Isle beat Nokomis 69-42 and advances to face Cony in Bangor

• Central Aroostook beat Schenck 55-40 and advances to face Machias Monday

• Thursday features four all-County Class S quarterfinal games

Class B Boys Prelim: Presque Isle 69, Nokomis 42

Presque Isle Wildcats and Nokomis Warriors traded blows early, with Presque Isle holding a 12-11 edge after one quarter. The momentum swung in the second when turnovers started to hurt Nokomis and the Wildcats made them pay, rattling off five straight baskets to build separation. Nokomis answered out of a timeout with two quick scores, but Presque Isle carried a 28-20 lead into halftime.

The third quarter is where it turned into a runaway. Presque Isle opened the half with a 22-3 run, locked in defensively, and took a 24-point lead into the fourth. The Wildcats kept rolling and closed out a 69-42 win to advance.

Cruze Casavant led Presque Isle with 20 points. Kason Bua scored 15 points and Nate Tompkins added 14 points. Nokomis was led by Seth Bowden with 16 points, and the Warriors finish their season at 5-14.

Next up: Presque Isle heads to Bangor to face the top-seed Cony Rams on Saturday at 5:30 PM, with the broadcast live on 101.9 The Rock.

Class D Boys Prelim: Central Aroostook 55, Schenck 40

Central Aroostook Panthers and Schenck Wolverines kept it tight for most of the first half, swapping one-point leads and trading baskets. That same back-and-forth carried into the third, until Central Aroostook found the gear change and blew it open.

The Panthers pulled away in the second half and never looked back, finishing off a 55-40 win to advance.

Will Whited led the Panthers with 17 points, and he did his damage in a hurry, scoring 14 points in the third quarter alone. Dylan McKeen added 12 points. Schenck was led by Brayden Osborne with 17 points as the Wolverines finish their season at 10-9.

Next up: Central Aroostook heads to Bangor to face the top-seed Machias Bulldogs on Monday at 10:30 AM.

Thursday Schedule: All-County Afternoon in Class S

Thursday’s Class S quarterfinals feature an all-County slate:

• 3:00 PM: Wisdom Lady Pioneers vs Easton Lady Bears

• 4:30 PM: Easton Bears vs Wisdom Pioneers

• 6:00 PM: Katahdin Lady Cougars vs Van Buren Lady Crusaders

• 7:30 PM: Katahdin Cougars vs Van Buren Crusaders

Keep checking back for tournament updates as they happen, with results posted shortly after the final buzzer.

• 🏆 Athlete of the Week hub: Winter Week Nine Athlete of the Week voting is live! Nominate and vote for student-athletes across the County >> [LINK]

• County Athletes named to the McDonald's All-Star Team, read about who made the team >> [HERE]

• Read about local County schools and their past tournament results, and some records that may shock you HERE>> [HERE]

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• ✅ Score correction / missing stats → 📸 Send photos + highlights → [LINK]