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BANGOR – The shirts pretty much say it all for “Team Adversity,” also known as the Calais boys.
The Blue Devils edged George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill 55-53 and won their first Eastern Maine Class C crown in 11 years with more fourth-quarter heroics and a truly team effort in which everyone had a finger, foot, leg or hand in a key play.
Calais’ fate literally rested in the hands of senior forward James Provencher as he stood at the free throw line with four seconds left in the game and the score tied.
Provencher reached that critical juncture after GSA tied it up on Ryan Hutchins shot from the left block off a feed from Mark Clapp with nine seconds to play. Andy Frost hit Provencher with a pass outside the right block as Provencher made a move to the post.
“I saw Andy coming up and Hutchins was moving down to the lane,” Provencher said. “I got down because I thought I’d beat him there and he gave me a little bump. I thought I was going to make the shot, but it rolled out I guess. Then on the line, when I made the first, I knew I had the second one, too.”
Provencher (11 points) couldn’t contain his excitement as the crowd roared and he began pumping his fist. The outburst didn’t affect his shooting rhythm much as he drained the next shot.
That left the Eagles four seconds to inbound the ball from the far baseline and get off a shot. The Eagles got the ball to Clapp near half-court on the left wing with a second left and Clapp got the shot off in time, but the 28-footer fell short of the rim as the buzzer touched off a wild celebration by anyone wearing blue.
The 21-1 Devils, whose pregame warmup shirts read: “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda” from top to bottom with slashes through each word with “Next year is here” underneath, will meet West champ Jay at the Augusta Civic Center for the gold ball at 9 p.m. Saturday.
“Last year they said they were just happy to be here but this year, well, the shirts say it all,” said Calais rookie head coach Keith Ogden.
It was their run all the way to the 2001 finals that helped catapult them back this year.
“We’ve been in these pressure situations now six times the last two years and I think that helped us come out on top this time,” said 6-foot-5 Calais senior center Joe Footer, who delivered another big game with 12 points and 16 rebounds despite being well covered by Nick Henry and Hutchins. “We’ve been down like this in our other two games, too, so we didn’t panic.”
And once again, the Devils were saddled with big foul trouble. Forward Chris LaPointe got his second with 1:38 left in the first and missed much of the first half while point guard Darren Morrell played his second straight game with four fouls during the final two minutes.
Calais led by 11 points late in the third and still held a seven-point lead with six minutes to play, but a 6-0 GSA run and the play of Hutchins kept it tight the rest of the way.
Provencher hit a huge shot with a spot-up 3-pointer from the right wing with 2:38 to play, but GSA had five of the next seven points to make it 52-51 Calais with 51 seconds left. A Duane Ledien steal gave the Eagles a shot at the lead, but Hutchins’ miss with 30 seconds left was rebounded by LaPointe.
The Eagles then used three fouls in two seconds to put Calais in the bonus. Footer went to the line, hit the first, and missed the second before Hutchins scored the last of his game-high 28 to tie it.
“I think it wasn’t so much their stars winning this game for them. Their team won this game for them,” said GSA coach Matt Mattson. “We just went at it and I guess, yeah, the team that had the last decent shot won it.”
Sophomore guard Andy Frost overcame a nasty flu bug to score Calais’ first eight points in the second half en route to 17 total.
The 6-8 Hutchins had 13 boards and three blocks. Henry scored 10 points, Clapp had eight rebounds and six assists, and Mike Astbury dished out a game-high seven assists.
BLUE DEVILS 55, EAGLES 53
Calais boys (21-1) George Stevens (19-3)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Morrell 3 6 0 2 6 Astbury 1 2 2
Provencher 4 8 2 2 11 Clapp 1 9 5
Demolet 0 2 0 0 0 Ledien 2 11 6
McLean 2 4 0 0 6 Allen 0 0 0
Frost 7 15 3 4 17 Henry 3 11 10
Woodside 1 2 0 0 2 Lowell 1 2 2
Footer 5 16 2 3 12 Hutchins 12 23 4 6 28
LaPointe 0 4 1 2 1
Totals 22 57 8 13 55 Totals 20 58 10 12 53
Calais 13 25 43 55
George Stevens Academy 12 25 33 53
3-pt. goals: Calais (3-8): McLean 2-2, Provencher 1-3, Woodside 0-1, Frost 0-2; GSA (3-11): Ledien 2-5, Clapp 1-4, Astbury 0-1, Hutchins 0-1
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