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BANGOR – East Grand responded to Katahdin’s intense defensive pressure with some calm free-throw shooting to capture the school’s first-ever boys basketball title with a 53-42 win Saturday morning in the Eastern Maine Class D final at the Bangor Auditorium.
Trailing by three entering the fourth quarter, second-seeded Katahdin turned up its pressure with a trapping half-court defense, but the No. 1 Vikings responded by scoring all of their fourth-quarter points from the line on an 18-for-26 effort.
“That says a lot for how mentally tough our guys are to go to the line and be able to knock down those shots in such a huge game,” said third-year coach Troy Cilley. “Even though we were the top seed, I think in everyone’s mind we were the underdogs. We stayed focused, and for such a young group, they showed an outstanding level of maturity.”
East Grand of Danforth, now 20-1, advanced to Thursday’s state final at approximately 8:45 p.m. against defending state champ Valley of Bingham. The Cougars, the defending EM champ, finished at 17-4.
With the Cougars double-teaming the ball and attempting to force turnovers, the Vikings turned to freshman point guard Darius Parker and junior guard James Godley to take care of the ball. They responded as Parker nailed 8 of 10 free throws and Godley hit 6 of 10.
“We just had to keep our heads in the game and hit those foul shots down the stretch,” Parker said.
Godley paced the Vikings with 17 points and Parker put in 15, including a 10-for-12 performance from the line. Otto Ruebsamen, East Grand’s 6-foot-4 junior center, dominated the inside game while scoring 12 points and grabbing 17 rebounds, helping the Vikings to a commanding 48-24 team advantage.
The Vikings limited the Cougars to one shot and were able to get second and third looks at their basket. They also benefited from the foul trouble of Katahdin’s 6-4 center, Chris Robinson. Robinson picked up his third foul with 3:25 left in the first quarter and played only about six minutes for the rest of the game.
“Once we lose either Chris or Dan [Cullen], it really hurts,” Katahdin coach Bill McAvoy said.
Cilley said he emphasized rebounding to his team.
“We were very worried about Cullen and Robinson inside,” Cilley said. “We knew [Brandon] McCarthy was going to get his points, but we wanted to shut those guys down and keep them off the glass.”
McCarthy, a 5-7 senior guard, did get a lot of good looks at the basket, but could not get his shot to fall. He finished with 18 points on a 7-for-22 effort from the field. The Vikings held Cullen to eight points and Robinson to six.
Both teams featured some intense full-court pressure in the first quarter and both also seemed a little nervous until the second when they took turns breaking the other’s press and pulling up for short jumpers or layups.
In the third quarter, however, Katahdin had trouble penetrating East Grand’s 2-1-2 zone and the Vikings pulled out to a six-point lead when Parker hit a press-breaking hoop and followed with two free throws the next time down. Richard Byers hit a free throw to put the Vikings up 35-29 with 38 seconds left, but McCarthy nailed a 24-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut East Grand’s lead to three.
Douglas Rodgerson hit a jumper to cut the lead to one at the start of the fourth, but then East Grand started its trips to the free throw line to secure the title.
Byers added to East Grand’s strong rebounding game with nine rebounds and Godley had seven.
Vikings 53, Cougars 42
Katahdin boys (17-3) East Grand (19-1)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP
Perry 1 3 0 0 2 Zugelder 0 2 1
Lane 0 1 0 0 0 Ruebsamen 5 11 12
Robinson 3 5 0 0 6 Gillis 0 0 0
McCarthy 7 22 2 2 18 Mortland 2 10 2 4 6
Atkinson 0 3 0 0 0 A. Faulkner 0 0
McNally 0 0 0 0 0 Godley 5 15 7 11 17
T. Rodgerson 0 3 0 0 0 Parker 2 7 10 12 15
Cullen 3 9 2 2 8 Byers 0 5 2 2
Heath 0 0 0 0 0
Cyr 0 0 0 0 0
Kelley 0 3 0 0 0
D. Rodgerson 4 8 0 0 8
Sullivan 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 18 57 4 4 42 14 50 24 37 53
Katahdin 6 24 32 42
East Grand 9 24 35 53
3-pt. goals: Katahdin (2-11): McCarthy 2-6, Atkinson 0-2, T. Rodgerson 0-1, Kelley 0-2; East Grand (1-6): Godley 0-1, Parker 1-5
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