Bucksport ends long frustration

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BANGOR – There have been three sure things in Bucksport the last few years: death, taxes, and an early tournament exit for the high school boys basketball team.

All that changed Saturday afternoon as the fourth-seeded Golden Bucks ended four straight years of tournament frustration by knocking off No. 2 seed Camden-Rockport 80-64 for the Eastern Maine Class B championship.

Bucksport travels to the Augusta Civic Center Saturday to take on unbeaten West champ Greely of Cumberland Center (21-0) in a 9 p.m. state championship game.

The Windjammers finished their season with a 17-4 record.

Senior point guard Steve Smith led the 16-5 Bucks to their first Eastern crown in 13 years.

“Steve was the quickest player on the floor,” said Bucks coach Larry Deans. “We can run, but no one’s allowed us to. We haven’t seen a man-to-man defense before this tournament since the fourth game of the year.”

After being stuck in the basketball equivalent of bumper-to-bumper traffic most of the season, Smith performed like an Indy car driver on the Autobahn against C-R’s man-to-man defense.

“I love to run and this was my opportunity tonight to do it,” said Smith. “They played us man-to-man and pressed us, and that’s the defense I play my best against.”

His best included a game-best 30 points, six assists, and five steals.

Thanks to Smith, the Bucks beat the ‘Jammers at their own game in the second and third quarters.

After seven lead changes and six ties in the first nine minutes, the Bucks cranked up their running game and outscored the ‘Jammers 12-4 in the last four minutes of the first half for a 34-24 halftime lead.

Smith and forward Greg Gobel picked up where they left off in the third quarter, scoring 13 points in a 17-7 run that padded the Bucks’ lead to 18. Ten of those points came via the fast break.

“We wanted to run an intelligent fast break, and if we didn’t have the break, slow it down because I was concerned about fatigue. But we just kept getting wide-open layups,” Deans said.

Meanwhile, fouls were negating C-R’s edge in bench strength. Starting forward Nick Callanan (13 points, 11 rebounds) went to the bench with his fourth after picking up two midway through the third quarter.

“Nick was on the bench at that time, they got hot, and we had some breakdowns on our defensive rotations that allowed them to get some easy hoops,” explained Windjammers’ coach Jeff Hart.

The Bucks began the final quarter with a 12-4 run that gave them their biggest lead of the game – 68-46 – with four minutes to play.

The ‘Jammers made a late 11-2 run to cut the lead to 11 with two minutes left, but ran out of time and fouls. Callanan and Jon Masin-Peters (12 points, seven boards) fouled out in the last minute.

“I thought it came down to we were in foul trouble and they wouldn’t let us play today… Tonight they called it close and that hurt us,” said Hart.

Poor shooting also plagued the ‘Jammers as they shot 29 percent from the floor and 18 percent (7-for-38) from 3-point range.

Saturday’s win was a gratifying one for Bucksport’s senior players.

“We’ve had to play a prelim game every year. This is just a shock! It’s been a dream for all of us to finally do this,” said Gobel, who had 13 points and 12 rebounds.

“I’ve been here every year, but always as a spectator,” added Smith. “I never thought Bucksport would get one. It just feels great.”

Deans shared much of the credit with former coach Peter Wolley, who Bucksport’s school board voted not to rehire last fall despite four straight playoff appearances.

“Peter Wolley had these seniors for three years and I feel for him,” said Deans. “This is as much an accomplishment of his as it is mine. These seniors are great players and great kids.”

Bucks 80, Windjammers 64

Bucksport boys (16-5) Camden-Rockport (17-4)

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

Smith 10 13 9 11 30 Wilson 4 20 0 0 9

Russell 0 0 0 0 0 Moro 4 8 2 2 13

Carmichael 0 0 0 0 0 Peck 0 1 0 0 0

LaChance 3 4 2 3 8 Rogers 1 6 0 1 3

Pollard 0 0 1 2 1 Callanan 5 10 3 6 13

Beck 0 2 3 4 3 Beveridge 1 9 0 1 2

Morrison 0 0 0 0 0 Kneedler 0 0 0 0 0

Simpson 0 0 1 2 1 King 1 4 0 0 2

Peak 7 10 1 3 15 Masin-Petrs 4 10 2 2 12

Astbury 0 0 0 0 0 J.Marden 0 3 0 0 0

Gobel 5 7 3 4 13 Leighton 1 5 0 0 2

Clough 4 5 0 0 8 T.Marden 1 3 2 2 4

Soper 0 0 1 2 1 Brooks 0 1 0 0 0

Neville 2 3 0 0 4

Totals 29 41 21 31 80 Totals 24 83 9 14 64

Bucksport 13 34 56 80

Camden-Rockport 13 24 42 64

3-pt. goals: Bucksport (1-3): Smith 1-2, Peak 0-1; Camden-Rockport (7-38): Moro 3-6, Masin-Peters 2-5, Rogers 1-5, Wilson 1-11, Peck 0-1, Leighton 0-1, Callanan 0-1, King 0-2, J. Marden 0-2, Beveridge 0-4