AUGUSTA — It doesn’t really matter where Parker Desjardins plays as long as the basket is 10 feet off the floor and there’s adequate lighting.
The Forest Hills sophomore takes 500 shots a day on his own and is comfortable in any environment. Saturday morning, he and his teammates took on rival Rangeley at Cony High School and Desjardins lit it up in the first half, scoring 24 of his game-high 32 points.
It added up to a dominating 78-33 win for the unbeaten Tigers who are 5-0 in Class D South play. Rangeley is 4-2.
This game was originally scheduled Friday for the Augusta Civic Center, site of the Class D tournament, but was postponed due to bad weather. A scheduling conflict Saturday caused the game to be moved to Cony.
“It’s a beautiful facility,” Forest Hills coach Anthony Amero said. “We’ll play here any day of the week.”
Forest hills finished 13-5 last season despite losing Desjardins after a half dozen games to a broken foot. A starter in the eighth grade, he led the Tigers in scoring last year at 21 points per game and at 5-foot-3 found inventive ways to get his shots off. He’s since grown 5 inches and has added 15 pounds of muscle which has expanded his game.
“It’s a lot easier to get to the hoop,” he said. “I’m faster, I’ve been jump roping.”
The Tigers would contend for a regional or state title without Desjardins in the lineup. Seniors Brandon Gilboe and Jakob Rivas are veteran players as are juniors Hunter Cuddy and Jeremiah Hale. And senior Dalton Gregoire has returned to the team after a year’s absence and is a strong all-around player.
“If we don’t go to states, it will be a disappointment,” Amero said. “We know that going into it. We don’t say that to be arrogant we just know.”
They certainly sent a message to the Lakers.
Desjardins scored 13 points in the first quarter, connecting on three 3-pointers as the Tigers jumped in front 24-9. Cuddy (12 points) opened the second period with a 3 and Rivas (11) added another to make it 36-15. Rangeley stayed in touch behind junior Nolan Boone, who scored all 11 of his points in the first half. But the Lakers had no answer for Desjardins, who sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers from each side around a mid-range jumper to close the half at 46-24.
Any comeback the Lakers had in mind was squelched early in the second half when the Tigers opened with a 19-0 run fueled by a half dozen Rangeley turnovers.
“At halftime I said if you can cut it to 10, we’re fine,” Rangeley coach Jeff LaRochelle said. “And it just continued to go the other way. We just started throwing the ball all over the place. If you’re going to have a comeback, it starts one possession at a time.”
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