BANGOR – Not since 1907 has a Piscataquis boys team had a brush with this kind of high school basketball greatness.

Following an impressive 66-48 victory over a young and talented Calais club in Saturday night’s Eastern Class C title game, the top-ranked Pirates of Guilford are one more win away from the first 22-0 season in school hoops history.

Thanks to another dominating performance from star center Buddy Leavitt – who bombed Calais’ defenses from long distance with six 3-pointers en route to a game-high 26 points and 10 rebounds – accurate shooting, and a tireless rebounding effort, the Pirates will play for a gold ball.

“It feels better than I thought it would. This is the greatest moment in my life right now,” Leavitt said through a wide grin.

Piscataquis heads back to the Bangor Auditorium to play West champ Boothbay (18-3) Friday at 9 p.m. (approximate start) for the state championship.

The multifaceted Pirates played a little half-court and a little fast break on offense while alternating between zone, box-and-one, and man-to-man on defense. No matter what they were doing, it didn’t affect their shooting or rebounding. PCHS shot 53.1 percent from the field and outrebounded the No. 2 Blue Devils 41-20.

“We knew they were a heck of a team and we could play either way they wanted to, whether they wanted to run or play half-court,” said junior guard Kyle Pulkkinen, who led the Pirates with nine assists, six of them to Leavitt, who finished two 3’s shy of the Class C single-game tourney record.

Piscataquis’ 6-foot-6, 235-pound senior was a one-man matchup nightmare for coach Randy Morrison’s Devils, who wind up 18-3.

“I tried running three different guys at him. I put quick guys on him and he shot over them. I put big guys on him and he got by them. He was on tonight,” Morrison said with a shake of his head. “And we couldn’t double him or use box-and-one on him because they’ve got too many weapons.”

Calais never strayed from its full-court, man defensive scheme as Morrison respected Pirates’ hot-shooting junior guards Pulkkinen (nine points, six boards), Keith Dawson (10 points), and senior reserve Scott DeCastro, who was 0-for-1 in the game.

DeCastro’s “off” night was no problem, however, as junior forward Ben Smith more than made up for it with an 11-point, eight-rebound night.

“Ben’s kind of the odd man out because everybody knows about Buddy and our guards. Randy Burgess [nine points, 10 boards] gets a lot of credit because of his defense and even DeCastro gets a little more credit than Ben does,” said Russell, who won his first regional crown after 15 varsity seasons at Schenck and Central.

“I inherited a talented group. Steve Bell had these kids when they were younger and then Ollie [Faulkner] had ’em last year. They were well-coached,” said Russell. “I think anybody could have coached this team and done a good job. I’m just a piece of the puzzle, but I’m glad to be a piece of it.”

Leavitt’s 3-pointer 21 seconds into the game set the tone as the Pirates raced out to a 13-4 lead and never really looked back in a game they neither trailed or were tied in. After an 8-0 run in the second quarter, PCHS never led by less than 10 points.

Joe Footer, Calais’ 6-5 junior center, had 14 points but was held to two rebounds by Leavitt and Burgess. Freshman point guard Andy Frost finished with 10 points and five assists. Senior forward James Frost had nine points and four boards before fouling out with 4:47 left in the game.

Pirates 66, Blue Devils 48

Calais boys (18-3) Piscataquis (21-0)

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

Pelletier 2 7 3 5 8 Hoffman 0 0 0

Morrell 0 0 0 0 0 White 0 0 0 0

MacMannis 0 0 0 0 0 Pulkkinen 3 9

Adams 0 6 1 2 1 DeCastro 0 1 0

Johnson 0 1 0 1 0 Dawson 5 9 0 10

J. Frost 4 8 0 0 9 Smith 4 5 11

Lynch 0 0 0 0 0 Martell 0 1 0 0

S. MacDonald 1 3 2 2 4 Leavitt 10 24 26

A. Frost 5 9 0 2 10 St. Louis 0 0

J. MacDonald 0 4 2 2 2 Watson 0 0 0

Leavitt 0 0 0 0 0 Carson 0 0 1 1

Footer 7 11 0 0 14 Burgess 4 5 1 9

LaPointe 0 1 0 0 0 Tracy 0 0 0

Totals 19 50 8 14 48 Totals 26 49 7 12 66

Calais 10 24 36 48

Piscataquis 17 36 49 66

3-pt. goals: Calais (2-9): Pelletier 1-2, J. Frost 1-3, A. Frost 0-1, S. MacDonald 0-1, Adams 0-2; Piscataquis (7-13): Leavitt 6-11, Pulkkinen 1-1, Martell 0-1