Much like the contest earlier in the week between the Wildcat girls and Fort Kent, the Warrior boys, also playing in their season opener because of COVID-19 related delays, came out of the gate incredibly rusty.  Turnovers, missed shots and bad fouls defined their first half as Presque Isle ran away with the game from the get go, not allowing a single basket until the six minute mark of the second quarter. 

Once the Warriors began to find their stride and string buckets together, they had already dug themselves a hole that would be nearly impossible to get out of. Sophomore Malachi Cummings had 24 of the Wildcats’ 37 points in the half, including 3 three-pointers, as the road team took a 23 point lead into the break.

The second half, much to the chagrin of Fort Kent, would be more of the same. A lack of defensive communication and many, many turnovers on the perimeter gave Presque Isle numerous easy baskets as they continued to run up the score. 

That lead would grow to nearly 50 as the Wildcats would ride the hot hand in Cummings, who scored an additional 16 points in under six minutes of second half action to reach the 40 point mark, the first member of the blue and white to do so since Griffin Guerrette had 44 against Caribou in 2018. 

“The boys played really good tonight offensively,” Cummings said after the win. “Jacob (Devine) played good defense on (Austin) Delisle in the first half which helped us keep them to below 40. I’m so proud of our last couple of games and we need to continue to have the same energy for the upcoming games.”

In addition to Cummings’ performance, junior Xavier McAtee also recorded a quiet 16 points on the night, while senior Connor Rideout, in his first game back from injury, had 9 in the 77-36 triumph. 

Presque Isle improves to 4-3 on the season with the victory and will once again face off against the Warriors at 3:30 on Friday, this time at home.