The Woodland boys used timely outside shooting to open up the inside for senior center Corey McIver and McIver did the rest to lead the No. 7 Dragons to an upset over No. 2 Central Aroostook of Mars Hill.

McIver scored 28 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and blocked four shots to key a 65-64 win over CAHS in an Eastern Maine Class D quarterfinal basketball game at the Bangor Auditorium Tuesday morning.

The 9-10 Dragons advance to play No. 3 Jonesport-Beals, which defeated Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook 90-51 Monday, in an 11 a.m. semifinal game Friday.

The Panthers from Mars Hill finished their season at 12-7.

Although the game wasn’t won on a last-second shot, the final seconds were tense ones for the Dragons as Central Aroostook was awarded three points on a goal-tending call with one second left on the clock.

McIver grabbed a three-point attempt by Central guard Dereck Townsend near the basket and was called for goal-tending, slicing Woodland’s lead to one point.

The Dragons managed to inbound the ball despite heavy Central pressure and Woodland’s Ryan Cilley held on to the ball as the clock ran out to ice the win.

“I figured if we blocked that three that with just one second left, no fouls would be made and we could throw it long and touch it,” McIver said.

“I kinda knew (goal-tending) would be called, but I figured let’s just get it in bounds and it’s over.”

That McIver was able to stay in the game long enough to help decide the outcome was remarkable since he picked up his fourth foul with 3:54 left to go in the third quarter.

After two minutes elapsed in the final quarter, McIver came back and tallied six points, two blocks, and two rebounds down the stretch.

The two teams didn’t played during the regular season, but Woodland Coach Kevin Towle was familiar enough with Central’s style to devise an effective strategy against them.

“They like to pound it inside, so we started out in man (to-man defense) to try to push Townsend away from the basket, but we didn’t have much success,” said Towle.

“At the half we talked it over and my assistant coach (Don Roffey) suggested trying the matchup zone to stop their penetration and it worked.”

Townsend scored 19 points in the first half on two 3-pointers and several drives down the lane in traffic. Woodland’s defensive shift limited him to 11 points in the second half, only six of which came on inside scoring moves.

Townsend’s 30 points led the Panthers’ offense. Senior classmate and center Chad King scored 18.

For the Dragons, sophomore guard John Bell scored 14 points. It was his outside shooting (three 3-pointers) that helped free McIver inside and ignited a 12-0 run in the second quarter to tie the game at 20.

Ryan Cilley finished with 13 points and seven rebounds for Woodland.

Dragons 65, Panthers 64

Woodland boys Central Aroostook

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

Cilley 19 5 3 2 13 York 2 1 0 0 3

Wirkala 7 4 5 0 8 King 13 8 2 2 18

McIver 20 11 9 6 28 Shaw 0 0 0 0 0

Manza 3 0 0 0 0 Townsend 34 10 11 7 30

Bell 15 5 4 1 14 Bradbury 3 2 0 0 4

Poole 4 0 0 0 0 Brewer 5 2 2 0 4

Knowles 1 0 3 2 2 Robbins 7 2 2 1 5

Hitz 1 0 0 0 0

Libby 1 0 0 0 0

Totals 69 25 24 11 65 Totals 66 25 17 10 64

Woodland 8 32 49 65

Central Aroostook 16 35 47 64

3-pt. goals: Woodland (4-13): Cilley (1-3), Manza (0-1), Bell (3-7), Poole (0-2); Central Aroostook (4-10): York (1-1), Brewer (0-1), Robbins (0-1), Libby (0-1), Townsend 3-6