BANGOR – With neither team having any tournament experience to rely on from last season, Friday night’s Eastern Maine Class A boys basketball semifinal came down to execution and fundamentals.

Despite committing nine turnovers in the fourth quarter, the Cony Rams of Augusta advanced to the regional title game for the first time in 20 years with a 67-57 victory over Presque Isle at the Bangor Auditorium.

The 17-4 Rams, who will take on unbeaten top seed Brunswick in a 9 p.m. Saturday championship game, survived their late turnover rash by taking advantage of their superior depth and putting Presque Isle in foul trouble, controlling the boards, and taking high-percentage shots.

They did all three things by working the ball inside, especially in the second half.

“Our main objective was to get it inside and then once they sagged down on us, we could make it an inside-out game, but with the fouls playing a big part, we knew we had to work it inside more,” said senior guard Scott Hinds, who scored 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting from 3-point range.

Presque Isle coach Tim Prescott said it was too difficult to match up with Cony’s frontcourt.

“They’re the most athletic team we’ve played this season. Their big kids are very athletic and excellent passers,” said Prescott, whose Wildcats finish 17-4. “Having [6-foot-5 center] Matt [Fortin]get in foul trouble early really hurt us because we’re not deep enough to overcome our big guys having to sit out a lot of minutes.”

Both teams found themselves in early foul trouble, but with more frontcourt depth, Cony coach Bruce Hunt wasn’t quite as concerned – especially after a third Presque Isle starter (Ryan Graves) went to the bench early in the third quarter after picking up his third and fourth fouls with 31/2 minutes left in the quarter.

“I felt if both teams got in trouble, we had the advantage then,” said Hunt. “But until the second half, we weren’t able to use our three big-man set because of early foul trouble. I think that was the difference late.”

Cony’s prime difference-maker was 6-foot-4 junior forward Jac Arbour, who scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the second half and grabbed eight rebounds. Senior 6-4 center Ryan Beer contributed 12 points, eight boards, and a game-high five assists.

Cony outrebounded the Wildcats 12-8 offensively and 38-31 overall.

After nine lead changes in the last four minutes of the third quarter, Cony seized momentum and control of the game for good with an 8-0 run to end the third quarter and start the fourth. Arbour supplied half the points in the run.

After the Wildcats hit two of their next four free throws to cut Cony’s lead to five points with 4:46 to play, Cony reeled off another run – this one 7-2 – to all but salt it away.

“In a tournament game, if you don’t shoot the ball well, you generally go home and we didn’t shoot the ball too well,” said Prescott.

Presque Isle shot 35.7 percent from the field and 55 percent from the free throw line.

Junior forward Fred Bird led the Wildcats with 13 points and six rebounds. Senior forward Nick Casavant was held scoreless in the second half, but still managed 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals as the Wildcats wound up their first tourney appearance in four years.

RAMS 67, WILDCATS 57

Cony (17-4) Presque Isle (17-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Gallagher 1 8 2 2 4 Carlin 0 1 0

Vachon 0 1 0 0 0 Graves 3 6 8

Vallee 2 8 0 1 5 James 3 3 8

Hinds 4 10 1 2 13 Deschene 0 0

Conrad 4 6 0 1 8 Saucier 4 18 8

Arbour 7 13 8 9 22 Lockhart 0 0

Schlager 1 2 1 2 3 Casavant 4 13 0 0 11

Beck 0 0 0 0 0 Bird 3 8 7 10 13

Beer 5 8 1 3 12 Hall 0 0 2 2

Raber 0 0 0 0 0 Fortin 3 6 7

Totals 24 56 13 20 67 20 56 11 20 57

Cony 17 32 50 67

Presque Isle 17 34 47 57

3-pt. goals: Cony (6-20): Hinds 4-9, Beer 1-2, Vallee 1-5, Gallagher 0-3, Schlager 0-1; Presque Isle (6-26): Casavant 3-10, Graves 2-3, James 1-1, Carlin 0-1, Deschene 0-1, Bird 0-2, Saucier 0-8