BANGOR – For at least part of St. Patrick’s Day, the leprechauns were wearing cardinal and white.

No one will ever confuse 6-foot-5 Joe Campbell or 5-10 Bangor teammate Zak Ray for leprechauns, but they created a little of their own luck of the Irish Saturday night. The Rams’ duo single-handedly brought Bangor back from the brink of defeat to stun heavily favored and previously unbeaten Deering of Portland 57-56 in an electrifying Class A state championship clash at the storied Bangor Auditorium.

“I’ve got to admit that this was probably as sweet as it gets,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed, whose Rams won their second straight gold ball and fifth in the last nine seasons. “We weren’t supposed to have a prayer in this game and I can’t say enough about the resiliency of these kids.

“The events that occurred … I said ‘Geez, luck of the Irish today,” he added.

It’s appropriate that Ray and Campbell held the game in their hands because they’re the same soft, sure, and cool hands in which Bangor’s basketball fate has rested all season. They’re also the same hands that wrote the latest roundball story which will be recounted long after ‘The Old Barn’ is gone.

The final stirring chapter of this barn burner began with 32 seconds to play. Campbell hit two free throws to cut Deering’s lead to 56-55 and Deering brought the ball downcourt. Ray stole the ball away from Patrick Conway, who had just entered the game for the first time when 6-7 Deering forward Nik Caner-Medley (16 points, nine boards) fouled out against Campbell.

Ray (eight assists) drove down the left side to set up as Reed elected not to call timeout. With seven seconds left, Ray dished to Campbell near foul line and Campbell drove inside. Before he could get a shot off, Deering’s Derek Raymond stripped him of the ball and drove left – toward Ray. Ray slapped the ball loose, grabbed it just outside the 3-point line, and let fly a shot with two seconds left.

The shot was short, but Campbell, who had fallen down and somersaulted his way to the low post, reacted quickly and snatched the airball about a foot in front of and under the hoop. In one motion, with his back to the basket, Campbell flipped the ball back up, off the glass, and in as the buzzer sounded and the court became awash in a sea of red-and-white clad fans, players, and cheerleaders.

Sheer pandemonium reigned courtside.

“It really didn’t seem to happen in slow-mo. I just caught it, shot it, and it went in,” said a jubilant Campbell. “I’m not sure what happened after. I saw [teammate] Chris Bombardier had his arms wide open and I just jumped right into them.”

While the wild celebration raged unchecked for several minutes, the scene on the opposing side of the sold-out, standing-room Auditorium crowd of 4,660 fans was one of shocked, disbelieving, total silence cloaked in tear-stained purple and white clothing, placards, pom-poms and body paint.

“It’s not a good feeling,” said Deering coach Mike Francoeur. “I truly feel I didn’t have a great game as coach tonight. My high school coach would have told me that good coaches win close games down the stretch and I didn’t give Deering the opportunity to win. I didn’t make some adjustments I needed to in a game with so many big shots and big plays.”

Foremost among them were the last of Campbell’s game-high 13 rebounds and 23 points.

“Joe came through. He hit two foul shots and then … I mean, what do you say to a play like that? I don’t know how he did it,” said Bangor senior forward-guard Joe Vanidestine. “It happened so fast, but he did it. Joe did it for us all year and he did again at the end.”

It was sweet redemption for Vanidestine, as Campbell saved him from being remembered as the guy who missed three potential game-tying free throws with Bangor down 56-53 and 1:08 to play. Instead, he’ll be remembered as the guy who canned three of five 3-pointers en route to 18 points and kept Deering from ganging up on Campbell inside.

Make no mistake, even with the late heroics, this was a team triumph. Without the efforts of Campbell, Ray, Vanidestine, senior guard Jim Shea (five assists, three steals), and senior forward Josh Johnson (defended 6-5 star forward Jamaal Caterina), late heroics wouldn’t have made a difference.

“When you put them all together, those five guys went the distance with very little help. This is right up there as one of the all-time great games,” said Reed, resplendent in a dark green jacket and a light green patterned tie.

All five played the entire first half as Bangor used a 2-3 matchup zone for the first time to frustrate Deering’s offensive rhythm.

“We weren’t really hitting our outside shots early, and we were penetrating, but we weren’t going all the way. We weren’t getting to the foul line, which really hurt us. They were able to sink in on the 2-3 ’cause they really didn’t have to play us outside,” said Caterina, who had 14 points and 10 boards.

Caterina shot 1-for-8 in the first half, but heated up in the second to help his Rams come all the way back from a 28-13 first-half deficit.

Caterina and junior guard Derek Raymond – who came off the bench for 12 points on 4-for-4 3-point shooting – led a 3-point assault to fuel a 15-2 run and give Deering its first lead (39-37 with 1:12 left in the third quarter). After that, Bangor went man-to-man, forced five of Deering’s 18 turnovers, and tied it on a Shea 16-footer and Vanidestine’s 3-pointer with 4:58 to play.

Caner-Medley’s low post hoop and a ‘3’ from 6-1 point man Walter Phillips (14 points) put Deering up 56-53 with 2:25 left.

Both teams finished 21-1. Bangor notched its ninth state title and Deering is still looking for its first.

It was unflagging team defense, determined rebounding (Deering had a slight 28-23 edge), and crisp ball movement against Deering’s extended zones and presses that allowed Bangor to confound the experts and beat an unbeatable team, a team whose average margin of victory was 26 points, whose closest games were nine-point wins, and who – on average (starting five) – towered a full three inches over Bangor.

“Nobody thought we could do it except for us,” said a drained Vanidestine. “If you work hard and play defense and believe in each other, and you’ve got a heartbeat, then you’ve always got a chance.”

Bangor Rams 57, Deering 56

Deering boys (21-1) Bangor (21-1)

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

Belanger 0 1 0 1 0 Vanidestine 6 11 3 8 18

Raymond 4 5 0 0 12 Ray 1 7 1 4

Ja.Caterina 5 15 2 3 14 Shea 4 9 8

Wiles 0 0 0 0 0 Campbell 9 13 23

Conway 0 0 0 0 0 Johnson 2 5 0 4

Phillips 5 14 2 2 14 Bouchard 0 0

Caner-Medley 7 9 2 3 16 Shain 0 0 0

Marks 0 0 0 0 0

Casterella 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 21 44 6 9 56 Totals 22 45 8 14 57

Deering 9 19 44 56

Bangor 11 28 39 57

3-pt. goals: Deering (8-14): Raymond 4-4, Phillips 2-4, Ja. Caterina 2-6; Bangor (5-11): Vanidestine 3-5, Campbell 1-1, Ray 1-4, Shea 0-1

Attendance: 4,660