BANGOR – He wasn’t selected the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Player of the Year for nothing.

Camden Hills senior forward John Knutson hit the game-winning shot with six seconds left and scored a game-high 23 points Wednesday night to lead the top-seeded Windjammers past KVAC foe Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield in an Eastern Maine Class B semifinal.

“I don’t know where I was,” Knutson admitted. “I got the ball at the top of the key, I looked up and saw 10 seconds left, I held it a little and started taking it to the hole, but my guy backed off so I pulled up and shot.”

Knutson’s 19-foot, pull-up jumper from the right wing wasn’t the play Camden coach Jeff Hart scripted, but didn’t mind his star forward’s improvisation on the Bangor Auditorium stage.

“We were gonna run a pick-and-roll play, but when it got in his hands … He wasn’t giving it up and that was fine by me,” Hart said. “He’s a money player. He wants the ball in his hands and not everybody has that characteristic.”

Now Knutson will lead the 18-2 ‘Jammers to the EM finals against No. 7 Hermon (13-8) Saturday at 4 p.m. (approximate start).

After Knutson’s shot buried itself in the twine, MCI coach Bill Brooks called timeout with 3.5 seconds to play. After inbounding the ball, MCI called another timeout to set up a play from half-court with 2.8 seconds left.

Senior forward Mike Susi (13 points, 12 rebounds) inbounded the ball by arcing a pass to Sindre Vad on the right wing. Vad fired up a shot from outside the 3-point arc and the ball bounced high off the rim and to the right as the buzzer sounded the end of the back-and-forth struggle.

“We got the shots we wanted. We just didn’t hit ’em,” said a disappointed Brooks, whose gritty Huskies finished 12-9. “But we were down 12 late and almost came all the way back, so I’m really proud of the way the kids battled.”

MCI shot 40 percent (22-for-55) from the floor and only 2-for-10 from the line, but rebounding and the play of Vad off the bench almost made up for all of that.

After being outrebounded 13-10 in the opening quarter, MCI won the battle of the board each succeeding quarter for an overall 37-27 advantage. Vad hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 1:17 left en route to 11 points, all in the second half.

“We were concentrating on [Mike] Susi because he hurt us early, and then [Andrew] St. Clair hurt us on the boards once we got Susi contained, and then the Vad kid started hitting from all over, so we were wondering what else we’d have to do,” said Hart.

St. Clair led the Huskies with 17 points, 18 rebounds, five assists, and two steals.

Brian Fitzpatrick tossed in 10 points for the ‘Jammers.

Windjammers 49, Huskies 47

MCI boys (12-9) Camden Hills (18-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

Arakaki 1 7 0 0 2 Wilson 0 3 0 0

Bennett 0 0 0 0 0 Dugal 0 4 3 3

St. Clair 8 17 1 8 17 Moro 1 2 2

Vad 5 8 0 0 11 Fitzpatrick 4 7 10

Riendeau 1 5 0 0 2 Warren 2 6 4

Hall 1 6 0 0 2 Smith 0 0 0 0

Bolster 0 1 0 0 0 Lippman 0 2 1 1

Susi 6 11 1 2 13 Knutson 9 15 5 23

Dennen 0 1 0 0

McIntyre 3 5 6

Totals 22 55 2 10 47 19 45 9 16 49

Maine Central Institute 12 18 32 47

Camden Hills 10 18 32 49

3-pt. goals: MCI (1-8): Vad 1-2, Susi 0-1, Riendeau 0-1, St. Clair 0-1, Arakaki 0-3; Camden Hills (2-11): Fitzpatrick 2-4, Wilson 0-1, Dugal 0-1, McIntyre 0-1, Warren 0-2, Knutson 0-2