BANGOR – It was a win that couldn’t have come at a better time for Caribou coach Jim Carter.

Saturday’s afternoon’s 65-61 overtime upset victory over No. 3 Mt. Blue of Farmington was not only Carter’s first Eastern Maine Class A tournament quarterfinal win, it was the first for the boys basketball program in 18 years.

If that wasn’t enough to make Carter’s eyes gleam more brightly, consider the win came in his last season. Carter has decided to retire after 22 years on the Vikings bench.

“I’ve been coaching 22 seasons and I just came to the conclusion that if I was retiring from teaching [high school business and computer science], it was a good time to give up coaching too,” he explained.

This also happened to be Caribou’s last chance to break its 0-for-9 streak in the Class A tournament because the Vikings will be playing Class B ball next year.

Calling this Carter’s biggest win would be an understatement.

“Last year at the end of the season, I said to my wife ‘I’m going to retire from Caribou and have the poorest record of any coach who’s been there.’ What a distinct honor that is,” Carter said with a chuckle. I think this will go a long way toward erasing the memory of our bad seasons, hopefully.”

Carter’s four-year record at Caribou is 32-43 overall and 2-1 in postseason play (including a preliminary playoff win this year).

“I hope this is a significant thing for our program. I hope it encourages younger kids to really pursue basketball and I hope it keeps bringing bigger crowds to our games,” Carter said.

Both hopes appear to be nearing fruition, judging from Saturday’s tournament crowd and the thoughts of some of his current players.

“This if the first time I’ve been on this court for a tournament game,” said junior guard Joel Griffeth. “This is great. I’ve heard a lot from people who played in the 80’s when Caribou was dominant and just hearing stories about playing here and winning championships … That’s the feeling I want.”

Webb flagged for national honors

Longtime basketball and baseball official Peter Webb of Bangor has been singled out for two national honors.

Webb is both the regional (region I) and national winner of the National Federation Officials Association’s Distinguished Official Award. He will also take over as the president of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials, which he has been a member of for 39 years, in April.

“I’ll be going to Indiana in April to receive this award at a national gathering,” Webb said. “As for becoming IAABO president, I already do quite a bit of travelling for them, but this will involve more travelling and taking part in programs and whatever else to promote basketball officiating.”

Webb will serve a one-year term as president of the IAABO, for whom he has served in a teaching and supervisory role for the last 31 years. The IAABO has approximately 15,000 members and is headquartered in Maryland.”I’m definitely looking forward to it, especially since this is something I really enjoy doing,” he said.

Webb, also been a member of the NFOA for 29 years, was a member of both the National Federation of State High School Association’s basketball rules committee and basketball manual committee from 1993 to 1996.

He has been Maine’s state basketball commissioner for 11 years and is a 33-year member of the Maine State Basketball Council. Webb has officiated 2,073 varsity basketball games and 1,028 baseball contest over a 41-year period.