By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

By day, Dan Thomas is a math teacher. His ability to manage numbers came in handy Saturday night.

With game officials whistling 68 fouls — Fryeburg Academy had 36 and Lake Region 32 — Raider Coach Thomas and Laker Coach Ryan Martin faced the same dilemma — do I put him in or keep him out a little longer?

“Rhythm and flow to the game was tough. Guys get in, and then I have to sit them right back down because they picked up another foul — second, third or fourth. I made a few good calls and a few bad calls on taking some guys out and keeping some guys in,” Coach Thomas said. “I lost Gunnar in the fourth, probably should have waited a little longer, but hindsight is 20-20. Luckily, I am a math teacher, so I can keep track of these fouls pretty well in my head. People like to wait until the end of the game to bring players back, but I am a believer that if the game is close, it’s time to put our big guns out there and see if we could stay out of foul trouble.”

Thomas made the right call on putting athletic 6-foot-5 forward Joao Orlando back into the game to start the fourth, despite four fouls.

“Joao Orlando was playing with four fouls and I told him to play vertical, chest out, show your hands. He played the whole fourth without picking up another foul,” Coach Thomas said.

Joao responded, big time. He swished two 3-pointers from the right corner, and was a major presence on the glass. Joao scored 12 points and blocked two shots to lead Fryeburg Academy (5-5) to a 53-47 victory in Naples.

“Our defense kept us in the game against them the first time we met, our defense again kept us in this one while our offense was a bit slow. Orlando gives us that stretch-5 look and is tough to guard. We needed his offense in the fourth. He made two big 3s. He’s a big-time player,” Coach Thomas said. “A lot of guys played tonight. We got some big minutes from Idan Orr. He played great, grabbing nine rebounds.”

As expected, the gym was rocking as fans turned up the volume and players went at it full tilt. Foul calls and turnovers resulted in what Coach Thomas bluntly called the first 8 minutes as “ugly.”

Evan Duprey, who had a tough time shaking free for shots in the first meeting, got off to a good start, canning a 3-pointer as the Lakers jumped out 6-3.

Fryeburg went on a 6-0 run as Orlando completed a three-point play and Lorenzo Vallemani converted an off-balance driving shot along the baseline for a 9-8 Raider lead.

Laker shooters went to the charity stripe 14 times in the second quarter, converting 10 to build a 24-22 halftime advantage.

Camden Johnson rallied the Raiders from a deficit with a 3-pointer and a soft shooting touch in the lane as he squeezed out space between two Laker defenders.

The teams played an even third quarter, LR enjoying an 11-10 margin as Brock Gibbons netted a pair of 3-pointers to close out the quarter for a 35-32 LR lead.

“Our game plan coming in was to play full-court man-to-man, and we did it for the first quarter. It was an ugly first quarter but we were holding them. We missed some shots in the second and turned the ball over, so we pulled our defense back. We let Lake Region get a little comfortable, and they started to make some shots and were able to get to the free throw line. So, I told the guys at the half, we needed to get up on them. I know it was hot out there, but if they got tired, I told them to tug their jersey and we’d get someone else in there,” Coach Thomas said. “We picked it up. I also told them that the way the game was being officiated, we had to drive to the basket. We didn’t shoot well from the foul line, but put pressure on them.”

The fourth kept fans on the edge of their seats or screaming to the outer limits of their voice capacity.

Fryeburg was able to pull away by controlling the glass, while also being more aggressive going to the hoop despite foul trouble.

Lake Region (3-7) narrowed the gap to 49-46 on a Jacob Chadbourne drive with 40.8 ticks on the clock. Vallemani answered with a lay-up. FA could have iced the win, but went just 2-of-6 from the foul line to keep the Lakers’ hopes of a fantastic finish alive.

“Free throw shooting — maybe it was the heat, the big crowd? They’re high school kids and they’re emotional at times. I appreciated how loud it was in there. It was a good test for us. We know now what we need to work on. Maybe at our next practice, I’ll blast some metal music over the speakers and have them shoot free throws for 20 minutes, after running sprints, of course,” Coach Thomas said. “We lost to Cape by 3 and missed 10 free throws. It’s something we need to work on and get better at.”

Like a year ago, Coach Thomas thinks the two Lake Region wins could be the springboard his club needed as they make a playoff push.

“It really could be a springboard for us. Right about this time last year, we did about the same thing. We were 4-5, got back to .500, and never looked back. We are starting to come together. Some of our sets tonight got us some wide-open looks, and we knocked them down at critical times,” Coach Thomas said.

Meanwhile, Laker Coach Ryan Martin said the foul fest was a good lesson for his squad.

“There were a lot of fouls called, but we also fouled a lot.  We are continuing to find the balance of playing hard without fouling.  This was a great test to our players being able to play in an atmosphere like that,” he said. “This is why basketball is such a team sport. It is important for players to understand that some games their number will get called more than others. This game, we had nine different players play 8-plus minutes. I think it is a very important skill learning how to play in foul trouble. Jackson was out because he was in foul trouble but also because I thought Jack Bueler was once again giving the team great minutes. He is an outstanding role player on this team. We always know what we are going to get from him.”

Coach Martin called the night a back and forth game that could have gone either way.

“At the end of the game, we had a couple lapses on the defensive end that led to open shots for FA. They hit big shots in the fourth quarter, scoring 21 of their 53 in that quarter,” he noted. “I am pleased with the way the team competed and stayed together throughout the course of the game. We’re still growing in the department of being able to play under control and stay poised in those type of games. The way you learn is by playing in high intensity games like that. That game will only make both teams better!”

Stat Lines

LR scoring — Jackson Libby 10, Brock Gibbons 11, Aiden Roberts 2, Jacob Chadbourne 9, Jacoby Bardsley 2, Ian Brogan 3, Evan Duprey 8, Jack Bueler 2.

LR leading rebounders — Jackson Libby 5, Jacob Chadbourne 5.

FA scoring — Jordan Dutton 1, Joao Orlando 12, Gunnar Saunders 8, Lorenzo Vallemani 9, Camden Johnson 15, Idan Orr 3, Geri Daiu 3, Jagger Helwig 2.

FA leading rebounders — Camden Johnson 11, Idan Orr 6, Joao Orlando 6.