In a game played on a stage where kids are often the heroes, a coach returning to the Bangor Auditorium sat in the spotlight following an Eastern Maine Class D quarterfinal game.

Machias Coach Ron Brown, coaching in a tournament game for the first time since 1987, made what could be the best coaching move of the tournament by simply changing defenses en route to the Bulldogs’ thrilling 65-58, double-overtime win over Jonesport-Beals.

Brown’s fourth-seeded Machias team will take a 15-4 record into next Friday afternoon’s 3:35 p.m. semifinal game against the winner of Wednesday’s Southern Aroostook-Wisdom game.

Fifth-seeded Jonesport-Beals ends its season at 10-9.

The move was simple.

At the end of regulation, with the score knotted at 58, Brown told his Bulldogs to trash the triangle-and-two defense they had used the entire game and play man-to-man.

The result was an oh-for-11 field goal effort and zero points by the Royals through both 3-minute OT periods.

“They kept hitting those 3-pointers,” explained Machias’ Ryan Schoppee (15 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists). “We went man so we could stop them. It worked.”

In the second OT, Lucas Stuart (16 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists) connected on a 10-footer to give the Bulldogs the lead.

A Braden Alley 3-pointer missed on the other end and Machias’ Eric Houde (10 points) scored three straight points on a free throw with 2:38 left and, after a few more J-B misses, an uncontested layup with 38 seconds left to ice it.

“Two overtimes and we didn’t score at all,” said Jonesport-Beals Coach Ordie Alley shaking his head in disbelief. “But, we had the shots.”

Against the triangle-and-two, the Royals were making the shots – especially from the perimeter.

Braden Alley (19 points) canned 5 of 15 three-point shots, including three in the fourth quarter, to spearhead a comeback by the Royals.

“He played big for them,” said Stuart. “We didn’t really worry about him and he made us pay for it.”

J-B was down 45-36 with 7:14 left in the game, but tied it when Shawn Alley sank two free throws with four seconds left.

In the first overtime, Toby Crowley (13 points, 4 assists) missed a 3-pointer and Shawn Alley and Jon Beal followed with two offensive rebound attempts, neither of which would fall. It was the Royals’ best scoring chance of the two OTs.

For J-B, Troy Alley had 16 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 12 seconds left in regulation.

Bulldogs 65, Royals 58 (2 OT)

Machias boys Jonesport-Beals

Name AG G AF F TP Name AG G AF F TP

Barker 5 3 6 2 10 S. Alley 4 0 7 6 6

Houde 9 4 4 2 10 J. Beal 2 0 0 0 0

Schoppee 10 3 10 7 15 T. Crowley 18 5 4 2 13

Stuart 10 6 3 1 16 Coffin 0 0 0 0 0

Grange 6 4 4 4 12 T. Alley 10 4 10 8 16

Goding 3 1 1 0 2 B. Alley 18 6 2 2 19

Hanscom 0 0 0 0 0 T. Beal 7 2 1 0 4

D. Beal 3 0 0 0 0

Totals 43 21 28 16 65 Totals 62 17 24 18 58

Machias 16 25 42 58 58 65

Jonesport-Beals 10 22 36 58 58 58

3-pt. goals: Machias (7-14): Stuart 3-5, Barker 2-3, Schoppee 2-5, Goding 0-1; Jonesport-Beals (6-25): B. Alley 5-15, T. Crowley 1-7, D. Beal 0-2, S. Alley 0-1, A. Beal 0-1.