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BANGOR – This game ended like so many others have for the loss-challenged Valley Cavaliers of Bingham, but unlike most of the previous 83 straight victories, No. 84 didn’t come easily.
Eastern Maine champ East Grand of Danforth gave the Cavaliers all they could handle before Valley posted a 90-81 victory on the storied Bangor Auditorium floor and walked away with its fourth straight Class D state championship Thursday night.
As they have the previous three seasons, the Cavaliers capped another unbeaten season (21-0), but this one didn’t come without a lot of sweat, nervous moments and seat squirming by fans, coaches and players.
“We were up by 20 after the third and they still fought back. Luckily we didn’t have to go into overtime because we were hurting,” said junior Cavs forward Luke Hartwell (19 points). “I’ll tell you, they gave us a hell of a run.”
It’s been one heck of a run for Valley’s Nick Pelotte as well. The 5-foot-9 senior point guard is the only member of the team to play on all three previous state title teams.
“When you’re in a game like this, it’s tough to think about anything but the present,” said Pelotte, who finished with 29 points and 13 assists, both game highs. “Eighty-three games before, that’s great, but you know, who cares? We’re playing this game right here and we had to focus on what’s at hand.”
When the Vikings began making their run, it was the lightning-quick Pelotte who went to work as he simply refused to allow anything to come between him and the perfect ending to a perfect career.
“I just took over leadership-wise, because some of the kids started getting down, said Pelotte, who left no doubt about who the Cavaliers’ leader was as he scored four of their final five points on 4-for-4 shooting from the line.
His point total also put him over the 1,000-point mark for his career.
“We were hoping to contain [Pelotte] better than we did, keep him on the perimeter,” said coach Troy Cilley, whose Vikings wind up their season 20-2. “He’s still dangerous from the perimeter but we were going by the same old philosophy that if they beat us by 20 it’s better than layups. Unfortunately we weren’t able to contain him the way we wanted to.”
The mercurial Pelotte couldn’t be contained as he continually sprinted up the court and either A) made quick cuts into the blocks for easy layups, B) pulled up and nailed a shot from the perimeter, or C) zipped a pass to a teammate on the blocks for an easy lay-in and-or a foul.
Pelotte got plenty of help offensively and defensively from twin brothers Jason Hartwell and Luke Hartwell, who combined for 39 points and 13 rebounds. Jason had eight of those rebounds as well as seven assists.
This was a game in which the winning team was going to do it with its starting five for the most part. Valley used seven players while East Grand went with six – and neither allowed fatigue to claim them.
Attrition almost did however, as the Cavaliers had early foul trouble and lost Luke Hartwell to his fifth with 3:18 to play. With junior 6-9 center Brian Andre (15 points, six blocked shots) already saddled with four fouls and Pelotte and Jason Hartwell with three each, the Vikings took advantage by going on a 19-6 run in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to turn a 75-55 Valley lead at the end of the third into 81-74 when Hartwell fouled out.
“I mean, we were running and gunning, baby, and maybe they got a little tired in the third,” said Pelotte. “They kept up with us early on, but I thought when we made that third-quarter run, that was it. Then they just dug it back up. You’ve got to give them credit.”
The credit belongs to Vikings junior guard James Godley (28 points) and freshman guard Darius Parker (25 points), who combined for 15 points during the big run.
Junior 6-4 center Otto Ruebsamen was also a big force for the Vikes as he had 12 points and eight rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as Pelotte and time thwarted East Grand’s gutsy final charge.
“We just started out in that zone and in the second half we decided to man them up a little,” Godley said. “That brought the lead back down and we started to get back into it, but it wasn’t enough to push us over the top.”
Hot shooting was the main story in the first half as the Cavs shot a searing 20-for-32 (62.5 percent) from the field to forge a 48-39 lead at the half.
Godley saw more than enough to know Valley was as good as its pregame hype.
“Yeah, they are,” he said. “We gave it our best shot and fell short but we did everything we could. They’re a great team. They deserve it.”
The last time the Cavaliers experienced anything more disappointing than a close victory in a regular season or playoff game was Saturday, Feb. 15, 1997. That was when fifth-seeded Waynflete of Portland soundly beat No. 4 Valley 56-36 in a Western Maine D quarterfinal game in Augusta.
Cavaliers 90, Vikings 81
Valley boys (21-0) East Grand (20-2)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP
Pelotte 11 19 4 5 29 Zugelder 0 1 2
Rollins 1 4 0 0 2 Ruebsamen 4 8 12
Jones 1 4 0 0 3 Mortland 4 9 8
J. Hartwell 8 11 4 7 20 Godley 10 22 28
L. Hartwell 8 12 0 0 19 Parker 9 18 25
Andre 7 10 1 3 15 Byers 3 11 0 6
Hibbard 1 2 0 0 2
Totals 37 62 9 15 90 30 69 16 24 81
Valley 24 48 75 90
East Grand 23 39 55 81
3-pt. goals: Valley (7-16): Pelotte 3-6, Rollins 0-3, Jones 1-3, L. Hartwell 3-4; East Grand (5-11): Godley 4-7, Parker 1-3, Byers 0-1
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