Raiders tame the Wildcats 56-53

Life on the road isn't all that bad for the Fryeburg Academy boys basketball team. The Raiders, who are in the midst of a three-game road trip, scored a nice win at York Monday, topping the Wildcats 56-53.The win lifted the boys from Fryeburg to 2-5 on the season in Western Maine Class B play while York slips to 1-6. "It was quite a show," Sedge Saunders, Raiders' head coach, said. "We've been playing better and this was a nice road win for us. I thought we did a nice job of handling things down the stretch -- this is the sort of win that I hope is going to be a boost to everyone's confidence."The two schools were knotted at 14 after the first period, but in the second frame the Raiders were able to open up a little breathing room. At the half Fryeburg was in front 28-23. "I think taking a lead into the locker room was a huge boost for us," Saunders said. "The nice thing is we came out in the second half and kept our composure... I thought we got a nice lift from a couple of young guys. We started freshman Colin Hurd and sophomore Andrew Stacey and they both did some good things. Andrew had four points in the first quarter to get us going and Colin ended up with five for the game and did a good job on the boards."York trailed 38-33 after three periods and put on a frantic late rally to try and tie things, but Ryan Wallace calmly hit a pair of late free throws to preserve the lead. The Wildcats missed a three-pointer as time expired that would have tied the game.Saunders praised the play of senior Paul Martin, who had nine points and 11 rebounds in the win. Mirza Dodic paced the Raiders in scoring with 14. Jonah Chappell added 9; Martin 9; Wallace, 7; Hurd, 5; Stacey, 4; Cheick Keita, 4; Victor Karpenko, 2; and Milan Kusic, 2.Fryeburg, who was on the road at Kennebunk last night (results not known as of press time), is at top ranked Marshwood this Friday at 7 p.m.