BANGOR – It took two straight overtime struggles and seven quarters of hair-graying basketball to do it, but for the first time since 1983, the Caribou boys have advanced beyond the Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinals.

Nokomis isn’t the only maroon-and-white team banishing tournament demons this year as the maroon, gold and white Vikings ended an 0-for-9 tourney drought with a goosebump-inducing 65-61 overtime victory over Mt. Blue of Farmington at the Bangor Auditorium Saturday afternoon.

The upset of the No. 3 Cougars sends the No. 6 Vikings into an 8:40 p.m. Friday semifinal matchup against No. 2 Skowhegan, a 45-41 victor over No. 7 Lawrence of Fairfield Saturday night.

“We’ve lost some very close games since winning the finals in 1983,” said Caribou coach Jim Carter. “Today was filled with uncertainty, but I had several guys out there who are just so determined to win. They don’t want to quit playing high school ball just yet.”

Chief among them is James Sam, who almost single-handedly pulled out the win in overtime.

Caribou’s 6-foot-5 senior center went 3-for-4 from the line in overtime, but it was his miss that was most significant. With 11 seconds left in OT and Caribou nursing a 62-61 lead, Sam drained the first of two foul shots. He shot his second too short, but before anyone could react, he darted in from the line, grabbed the ball as it bounced forward off the rim, and put it back in with seven seconds to play.

The shocked Cougars didn’t even manage to get a final shot off in the waning seconds and pandemonium reigned courtside as Vikings players and fans rejoiced.

“I knew it was gonna miss, so I just had to follow it,” said Sam, who was simply superlative with 29 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, three blocks, and two steals.

Another of those refuse-to-lose Vikings was Joel Griffeth. The 6-0 junior guard did a masterful job guarding 6-1 swingman Justin Almy, the Cougars’ best player and one of the most explosive forces in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference. Griffeth scored 10 points while holding Almy to nine – 11 below his season average.

“I followed him wherever he went and didn’t really want to help off too much on defense because he’s a guy who can really burn you all kinds of ways,” Griffeth said.

Caribou was in good shape with a 53-46 lead and 4:27 left in regulation, but the Cougars roared back with six unanswered points. After trading baskets the next 21/2 minutes, Almy stole the ball and zipped a pass to forward Matt Wasco in the low post for a hoop to put Mt. Blue up 58-57 with 48 seconds left. Four seconds later, Caribou’s Tyler Giles drew a foul, hit his first free throw, and missed the second.

Almy (eight boards, six assists, three steals) rebounded the miss and the Cougars set up for a final shot, but Caribou’s tight man defense kept them at bay. After Mt. Blue coach Jim Bessey called timeout with 11 seconds left, the Cougars closed in again, but Giles and Griffeth both tapped the ball to jar it loose twice and Mt. Blue couldn’t get a shot off before time ran out.

Saturday night, points were at a premium as both Lawrence and Skowhegan waged man-to-man defensive war on each other.

The Indians held a 41-33 lead with 2:09 left, but Lawrence scored eight of the next nine to make it 42-41 with 43 seconds to play. From then on, it was a free throw contest: Skowhegan made three of four, Lawrence went 0-for-4, Skowhegan won.

Senior forward Ryan Kelley led the Indians by going 6-for-7 from the line in the fourth quarter en rout to 13 points and 12 rebounds.

“That was just a tough, hard-nosed defensive struggle … Wow!’ said coach Larry Judd, whose Indians improve to 17-2.

Senior forward Trafton Teague paced the Bulldogs with 16 points and nine boards. Mark Bradford scored 14, Todd MacArthur dished out seven assists, and Peter McLaughlin grabbed 10 rebounds.

“We’re young but we came of age,” said coach Mike McGee of his 10-10 Bulldogs. “The kids left it all on the court tonight.”

Vikings 65, Cougars 61 (OT)

Caribou boys (14-6) Mt. Blue (14-5)

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

Cyr 1 6 1 2 4 Simpson 0 1 0 0

Noyes 0 0 2 4 2 Delaney 0 0 0 0

Nason 7 10 0 0 14 Fournier 5 8 13

Griffeth 5 11 0 0 10 Nile 7 12 16

Sam 10 21 9 10 29 Almy 4 14 0 9

Giles 2 4 2 5 6 Russo 1 2 0 2

Beaulieu 0 0 0 0 0 Wasco 4 10 8

French 4 6 3 11

Adams 1 1 0 2

Totals 25 52 14 21 65 Totals 26 54 5 10 61

Caribou 14 31 46 58 65

Mt. Blue 12 33 42 58 61

3-pt. goals: Caribou (1-5): Cyr 1-2, Griffeth 0-1, Sam 0-2; Mt. Blue (4-9): Nile 2-4, Fournier 1-1, Almy 1-4

Indians 45, Bulldogs 41

Lawrence boys (10-10) Skowhegan (17-2)

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

Freese 1 8 0 0 3 Hight 2 3 0 4

MacArthur 1 3 2 5 4 Larkin 3 9 9

Foster 0 0 0 0 0 Brod 1 2 0 3

Bradford 6 14 2 2 14 Clark 0 0 0

Teague 6 13 2 5 16 Holt 1 5 1 4

Pratt 0 0 0 0 0 Dunlap 1 2 2 5

McLaughlin 1 4 0 1 2 Walker 2 8 5

Dorsey 1 1 0 0 2 Anzelc 1 2 0 2

Kelley 3 11 7 13

Totals 16 43 6 13 41 Totals 14 42 13 19 45

Lawrence 7 11 20 41

Skowhegan 5 17 26 45

3-pt. goals: Lawrence (3-11): Teague 2-5, Freese 1-5, Bradford 0-1; Skowhegan (4-8): Holt 1-1, Dunlap 1-1, Brod 1-2, Walker 1-3, Hight 0-1