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BANGOR – For the fourth time in the last eight seasons, Jeff Hart’s Windjammers will represent Eastern Maine in the Class B state championship basketball game. Only this time, the Windjammers do so as Camden Hills, not Camden-Rockport.
The name and location – Rockport, not Camden – may have changed, but the tradition and expectations have not as the top-seeded ‘Jammers dealt defending regional champ Hermon a 60-49 defeat in Saturday afternoon’s EM final at the Bangor Auditorium.
Camden Hills, now 19-2, takes on West champ Gorham (17-5) for the gold ball Saturday at approximately 9 p.m. in the Augusta Civic Center. The seventh-seeded Hawks finish up 13-9.
The Windjammers avenged an EM semifinal loss to Hermon last year by winning the battle of the boards decisively: 20-6 on the offensive end and 50-29 overall.
“We watched the tape of our last game and I don’t think we found one place where we blocked out in the whole game, so we showed it to them,” said Camden coach Jeff Hart. “I was all over them the last two days. For keys to the game today, I wrote down ‘DEFEND, BLOCK OUT, and REBOUND’ about 18 times in bold letters and man, we were after it today.”
The ‘Jammers had three double-digit rebounders in John Knutson (13), Brian Fitzpatrick (12) and Grant Lippman (10).
“We both were getting good shots, but we were able to clean up our misses better,” Knutson said.
The 6-foot-5 Knutson also led Camden with 19 points, but the key efforts may have come more from senior forward Fitzpatrick and reserve guard Abe Dugal. Fitzpatrick had one of his best games this season with 14 points and Dugal came off the bench for 10.
“I thought I was inconsistent at times this season, but I think I came together in the tournament,” Fitzpatrick said. “I’ve always been a scorer, but I’ve never been a really great defender.”
Fitzpatrick held Hawks guard Jason Ouellette (four steals) to three points. Junior swingman Tyler Warren earned defensive MVP honors by teaming with Peter Moro to contain Hawks star forward Ryan Garland with Camden’s tight, man-to-man defense.
“I really think it was our half-court defense because I still have memories of Garland running by our press and laying it in last year,” Hart said. “Our big goal was not letting them get to the rim.”
Garland, who missed Friday’s practice with the flu, wasn’t 100 percent as he shot 5-for-15 for 13 points, but he still managed five boards and five assists.
“He has a heart as big as anybody,” said Hermon coach Rick Sinclair. “The thing is we just didn’t get enough rebounds on the defensive end. You give Camden two or three looks at it, they’re going to make it.
“When they make it, that gets them into their press easier. Their defense forces you to do a lot of things you don’t want to do like creating your own shots instead of getting in a flow on offense.”
After Hermon took an 11-8 lead 4:28 into the game, the ‘Jammers went on an 11-1 run that gave them the lead for good. The Hawks mounted a late comeback, using their own 11-2 run to pare an 11-point Camden lead with three minutes left in the third quarter to two (46-44) with five minutes left in the fourth, but Camden responded.
Knutson scored five of Camden’s next nine points as the ‘Jammers slowed the tempo and forced Hermon to foul. Camden went only 8-for-15 from the line in the final 31/2 minutes, but took advantage of hurried Hermon shots and put the game away with a 12-2 run.
Sophomore forward Ron Lane paced Hermon with 14 points and 10 rebounds, Wayne Shaw scored 12 and sophomore guard Joey Schacht dished out six assists.
Windjammers 60, Hawks 49
Hermon boys (13-9) Camden Hills (19-2)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP
Frye 0 0 0 0 0 Wilson 2 5 2 7
Schacht 3 11 0 0 6 Dugal 3 6 2 10
Kenney 0 0 0 0 0 May 0 0 0 0
Garland 5 15 2 4 13 Gabriele 0 1 0
Watson 0 0 0 0 0 Moro 0 1 0 0
Shaw 5 12 1 3 12 Wood 0 0 0 0
Lane 7 15 0 2 14 Fitzpatrick 6 12 14
Ouellette 1 4 0 0 3 Warren 3 10 6
Moulton 0 0 1 3 1 Smith 0 0 0 0
Haggerty 0 0 0 0 0 O?Brien 0 0 0
Stammen 0 0 0 0
Dennen 0 0 0 0
Lippman 1 1 0 2
Knutson 6 21 7 19
McIntyre 1 3 2
Totals 21 57 4 12 49 Totals 22 60 12 19 60
Hermon 12 25 39 49
Camden Hills 19 32 44 60
3-pt. goals: Hermon (3-20): Shaw 1-3, Ouellette 1-4, Garland 1-9, Schacht 0-4; Camden Hills (4-13): Dugal 2-3, Wilson 1-3, Fitzpatrick 1-4, Warren 0-1, Knutson 0-2
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