BANGOR – As the last seconds of the third quarter ticked down, East Grand of Danforth star Darius Parker had yet to score in the second half.

Parker, who had eight points in the first half, was a marked man as Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook used a box-and-one defense aimed at him.

The Vikings’ senior guard wasn’t worried. Parker supplied yet another emphatic answer in the “What have you done for me lately?” column by shooting 87.5 percent from the foul line in the last 31/2 minutes, scoring seven of his team’s final 14 points, and finishing with 17 to lead the Vikings to victory.

Top seed East Grand rallied from a 13-point second half deficit for a 62-60 Eastern Class D quarterfinal basketball win over No. 9 Southern Aroostook at the Bangor Auditorium. The 18-2 Vikings take on the winner of today’s game between Woodland and Jonesport-Beals in a 3:35 p.m. Thursday semifinal.

With the 11-9 Warriors ahead 59-54 and 2:02 left to play, Parker drew back-to-back fouls on SAHS starter Corey Edkins to foul him out and hit three of four free throws as the Vikings scored five straight to tie it with 23 seconds left.

After a timeout five seconds later, Warrior Wade Hersey hit one of two foul shots to retake the lead with 14 seconds to go.

East Grand coach Troy Cilley called timeout with 10 seconds left. Then it was Parker time.

“Darius is so good at drawing contact, is strong enough to take a couple bumps that don’t get called, and then take the one that does get called and still make two,” Cilley said.

That’s exactly what Parker did, taking the inbounds pass on the opposite baseline, dribbling through traffic as the Warriors pressed a bit, drew a foul with 4.3 seconds left, and canned both shots..

“If they fouled me, they fouled me, because I knew I could can the shots. If they pressed, I was going to dribble right to the hole,” Parker said.

A crosscourt pass from the baseline was tipped away by EG’s Matthew Scott with two seconds left, the Vikings got the ball, and EG’s Chris Irish (13 points, 10 rebounds) was fouled. He hit one of two with a second left and a desperation heave from the opposite baseline was off the mark for the Warriors.

The comeback overshadowed a brilliant effort from Warriors senior 6-foot-5 center Corey Shields, who finished with a game-high 19 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots.

“Quite frankly, if Shields touches the ball, we have no answer for him,” Cilley said. “We can’t stop him. He’s going to score or get fouled.”

VIKINGS 62, WARRIORS 60

So. Aroostook (11-9) East Grand (18-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Hardy 6 8 1 1 13 Scott 4 7 8

Austin 0 0 0 0 0 MHanington 0 0

Edkins 1 10 0 0 3 EHanington 1 3

Brooker 0 1 0 0 0 Irish 4 11 13

Grant 0 0 0 2 0 Parker 4 9 10 17

Shields 8 11 3 3 19 Faulkner 5 11

Hartin 4 10 0 0 9 R.Byers 3 14 10

Hersey 6 13 4 7 16

Totals 25 53 8 13 60 Totals 21 57 19 30 62

Southern Aroostook 14 36 46 60

East Grand 17 25 43 62

3-pt. goals ? Southern Aroostook (2-6): Hartin 1-2, Edkins 1-4; East Grand (1-9): R. Byers 1-4, Irish 0-1, Parker 0-1, Faulkner 0-1