The Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference’s dominance of the Eastern Class B boys basketball tournament stretches more than a decade. The last time a school from outside the KVAC won the region was 2000, when Hermon went to the state game.

With the KVAC’s Oceanside the top two seed in this season’s tournament, the KVAC has to be considered a good bet to extend that run to 14 years. Strong Big East schools such as Mt. Desert Island and Caribou will try to snap that streak. To start the upsets, No. 10 Ellsworth took out No. 2 Camden Hills 71-62 Friday night.

This is the first tournament in Bangor’s new Cross Insurance Center, which replaces the tournament’s longtime home, the Bangor Auditorium.

“It’s going to be new for everybody this year. It’s not like the old Auditorium,” Winslow coach Jared Browne said.

The tournament began when No. 6 Old Town (15-5) upset No. 3 Mt. Desert Island (14-5) 57-44 Friday night. Browne’s Black Raiders (16-3) are the No. 5 seed and will take on No. 4 Caribou (15-4) on Saturday at 10:35 a.m. Browne said the Vikings remind him of old Lawrence teams.

“They’re very well-coached, very disciplined. They run a lot of halfcourt man defense, a flex offense,” Browne said. “They’re very tough, very physical.”

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The Vikings are led by point guard Dayne Savage, who averages 16 points per game. Post player Derek Richardson averages 10 points per game for Caribou.

“We don’t look for one guy to score,” Caribou coach Chris Casavant said. “It’s a couple different guys in double figures every night.”

Winslow is led by senior guard Trevor Lovely, an all-KVAC first-team player who recently scored his 1,000th career point. Junior forward Justin Martin and junior guard Nason Lanphier were second team all-conference players for the Black Raiders this season.

Winslow goes to Bangor with an eight-game win streak and has won 15 of 16 games. Two of the Black Raiders’ three losses were to top-seed Oceanside, which enters the tournament with a six-game win streak. The Mariners only losses of the season came to No. 2 Camden Hills and Medomak Valley. The Mariners are led by Isaiah Stone-Patterson, a first team all-conference selection and one of the top shooters in the state. David Gould and Nick Judge were named second team all-KVAC for Oceanside.

The Mariners opponent on Saturday afternoon is No. 8 Hermon (11-8), which advanced with a preliminary round win over Presque Isle. The Hawks’ win on Wednesday snapped a regular-season ending four game losing streak. Guard Tyler Thayer scored 23 points in the win for Hermon.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242 tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM


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