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AUGUSTA – Brian Fournier just wanted to foul someone. The Jay senior never dreamed he’d soon be on the free-throw line himself.
His team trailed Calais 47-46 with 1.4 seconds remaining in the Class C state championship Saturday night at the Augusta Civic Center. Calais had the ball and was inbounding it on the baseline under Jay’s hoop.
But the Blue Devils were whistled for a technical foul on an inbounding violation, and Fournier made both free throws to give Jay the 48-47 victory and its first state title since 1984 and third in school history.
The Tigers closed the season at 19-4 while Calais finished at 21-2.
“Coach [Steve Hamilton] told us to try to foul before it [the ball] entered into the court. But when their kid stepped off the court … ” Fournier said.
The violation occurred when a Calais player who was not inbounding the ball stepped off the court and out of bounds on the baseline.
It is illegal to have more than one player standing out of bounds unless the opposing team has scored a basket. In that case, the player inbounding the ball may run the baseline or pass to a teammate who is also standing out of bounds. Jay had just lost the ball out of bounds after missing a field-goal attempt.
Hamilton said his team’s experience in close games during the season helped it down the stretch. And he was more than happy to have Fournier, an 87 percent free-throw shooter, on the line.
“We’ve been in four overtime games this year … and we know that sometimes you’ve got to be lucky. It’s better to be lucky than good, they say in golf. I think it’s true in basketball, too,” Hamilton said.
Jay made 12 of 20 from the line for the game, compared to only 6 of 15 by Calais.
The Blue Devils were stunned and confused after the violation. Coach Keith Ogden wasn’t sure what went wrong.
“They [the officials] said we couldn’t throw the ball back there [to the player standing out of bounds]. We didn’t throw the ball. … The plan was to throw the ball [inbounds] down this sideline and have Joe [Footer] touch it,” Ogden said.
Jay never led in the game until Fournier’s free throws.
The Tigers overcame an eight- point halftime deficit behind an aggressive 1-3-1 trap that disrupted the Devils’ rhythm and created five turnovers in the third quarter.
Derek Armandi and Josh Armandi (15 points each) combined for 13 points in the period, seven from Josh Armandi.
Footer, a 6-foot-5 senior center, had his way inside in the first half, scoring 10 points and helping the Devils build their lead.
Jay tied the game for the first time at 43-all when Tyrell Waldon (10 points, 6-for-7 from the line) nailed a pair of foul shots with 1:40 remaining in the fourth.
Chris LaPointe answered for Calais with an offensive rebound and put-back 30 seconds later, and then Jay turned it over to the Devils on a traveling violation with a minute remaining.
Footer made the Tigers pay with a pull-up jumper on the right baseline to push the score to 47-43, but Josh Armandi drilled a 3-pointer with 34 seconds remaining to cut the lead to one.
Calais turned it over on a player-control foul, but Jay couldn’t score on its next trip down the court and the Tigers batted the ball out of bounds with 1.4 seconds left.
Fournier was thankful for the opportunity to go to the line.
“I guess luck was on our side,” Fournier said.
Point guard Andy Frost paced the Devils with 17 points (7-for-9 from the floor) and seven rebounds, keeping the Tigers off-balance with aggressive drives to the hoop and perimeter shooting (2-for-2 from 3-point range). Footer finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, and LaPointe grabbed nine rebounds.
Waldon had a game-high 10 rebounds for Jay.
TIGERS 48, BLUE DEVILS 47
Calais boys (21-2) Jay (19-4)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Morrell 0 4 0 0 0 Da. Armandi 2 4
Provencher 3 12 1 1 8 Wells 0 1 0
McLean 0 3 2 2 2 De. Armandi 7 14 1 2 15
Frost 7 9 1 8 17 Fournier 1 4
Woodside 0 0 0 0 0 Johnson 0 0 0
Footer 7 19 2 2 16 Waldon 2 14 10
LaPointe 2 3 0 2 4 J. Armandi 5 12 3 9 15
Charles 0 0 0 0
Ouellette 0 2 0
Totals 19 50 6 15 47 Totals 17 51 12 20 48
Calais 14 26 34 47
Jay 9 18 33 47
3-pt. goals: Calais (3-7): Morrell 0-1, Provencher 1-4, Frost 2-2; Jay (2-10): Wells 0-1, Fournier 0-2, Waldon 0-1, J. Armandi 2-5, Ouellette 0-1
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