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BANGOR – Winslow’s Micah Grant shook of a case of tourney nerves Wednesday night at the Bangor Auditorium and scored 17 points to lead the fifth-seeded Black Raiders into the Eastern Maine Class B boys basketball tournament final with 52-49 semifinal win over top-seeded Camden Hills.
Grant said he had been nervous during the Black Raiders’ Eastern Maine Class B boys’ basketball tournament quarterfinal win over Mount Desert Island Saturday and played like it.
“I had to get my jitters out in the first game,” said Grant who scored just eight points in the quarterfinals.
The 16-4 Black Raiders will play Erskine Academy of South China in the final Saturday at approximately 4 p.m. Erskine downed Foxcroft Academy earlier in the day 56-36.
Winslow and Camden Hills had split two games during the regular season. Getting a win over the Windjammers at the Bangor Auditorium was special to Grant.
“Jeez, they’re the two-time defending state champ and they just get in your shirt and play great defense,” Grant said
Four of Grant’s points came midway through the fourth quarter on back-to-back positions that tied and then gave the Black Raiders the lead for good at 48-46.
On the first, Grant took a long outlet pass from Eric Lopez that resulted in a left-handed layup with 4:41 left in the game. The second came moments later when Grant reached to slap a pass away, recovered the ball and raced from half court to the basket for another layup.
Camden Hills had its chances down the stretch. Trailing 51-49, sophomore Tim Stammen had a decent look at the basket with six seconds remaining but his shot rolled off the rim. The ball was rebounded by Winslow junior Adam Haskell who was immediately fouled.
Haskell made one of two free throws with four seconds left. The Windjammers inbounded the ball down the right sideline and Lopez stepped in on the pass, but came down out of bounds.
That left Camden Hills with one second to try to get a shot off. The ball was inbounded to sophomore Will Horn who got off a shot from approximately 25 feet that bounced off the front rim.
Winslow coach Scott Wood had a good look at Horn’s shot.
“I had about 50 thoughts go through my head and all of them were bad,” Wood said.
Nate Boutin and Lopez scored 11 points apiece while Tim Stammen was held to eight points. His brother, senior Greg Stammen, topped the Windjammers with nine points.
“It was a pretty good game I think,” Camden Hills coach Jeff Hart said. “They just played a little better than us down the stretch.”
In most circumstances, Erskine could ill afford to have Kenny Demuth go scoreless and Matt Donar not score his first point of the game until the fourth quarter.
That’s what happened to Demuth and Donar Wednesday afternoon in the Eagles’ game with Foxcroft Academy.
But the Eagles had someone willing to mix it up in this hard-fought physical game: Josh Jones. The 6-foot-4 sophomore scored 17 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and second-seeded Erskine of South China ran away from the third-seeded Ponies in the fourth quarter.
Jones earned every point he scored. He had a pitched battle with Foxcroft’s 6-7 post man, E.J. Imbert. Imbert is not only tall, he is solidly built. Jones admitted to feeling a little intimidated going into the game.
“I thought he was going to total me, the first time I saw him. He’s the biggest guy I played this year,” Jones said.
But Jones moves and jumps well. He finished with nine rebounds and most of his points came from around the basket where he challenged the 18-2 Ponies’ defenders to stop him.
Donar finished with 11 points. The junior had early foul trouble and then left the game injured in the second quarter with a hyperextended knee but returned for the second half.
The Ponies led 16-15 at the half, but the Eagles’ defensive effort began to force turnovers in the second half. In all, Foxcroft turned the ball over 12 times in the second half. Jones, who had four offensive rebounds, was also beating them on the glass.
The Ponies played without 6-6 junior Brandon Hall, who missed the game after being ejected for receiving two technical fouls during the Ponies’ quarterfinal game with Mount View of Thorndike.
As the game started slipping away Foxcroft coach Dave Carey put his team in a trapping defense and Erskine players chewed it up, finding open shooters.
“We know they can stand and play H-O-R-S-E. We know they can stand and shoot. When you go to do your traps, it opens some people up.”
Danny White led Foxcroft with 12 points.
BLACK RAIDERS 52, WINDJAMMERS 49
Winslow (16-4) Camden Hills (17-3)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
LaPointe 2 5 0 0 6 Davis 2 4 4
Helberg 0 4 2 2 2 Crupi 2 3 6
Carrier 0 0 0 0 0 Horn 0 5 0
Lopez 4 10 2 2 11 T.Stammen 2 14 4 5 8
Grant 7 11 3 7 17 G.Stammen 4 9
Blodgett 0 0 0 0 0 Fitzgerald 2 8
Boutin 5 9 1 2 11 Aylward 2 8 6
Haskell 0 5 5 8 5 Massey 4 5 8
Dennen 0 1 0 0
Totals 18 44 13 21 52 18 51 14 49
Winslow 18 30 42 52
Camden Hills 19 28 44 49
3-pt. goals: Winslow (3-6): LaPointe 2-3, Helberg 0-1, Lopez 1-1, Boutin 0-1; Camden Hills (5-21): Davis 0-1, Horn 0-3, T. Stammen 0-3, G. Stammen 1-4, Fitzgerald 2-2, Aylward 2-8
EAGLES 56, PONIES 36
Foxcroft Academy (18-2) Erskine Academy (17-3)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Robinson 0 0 0 1 0 Demuth 0 9 0
Withee 0 1 2 3 2 Dow 0 0 0
White 4 12 2 2 12 Childs 1 1 3
Lubas 0 1 0 0 0 Farrington 0 2
Earnest 0 0 0 0 0 Peterson 0 0
Imbert 2 7 1 3 5 D. Haskell 2 5
Kennedy 1 2 1 2 3 Glidden 1 2 2
Carey 2 8 2 2 6 Jones 7 13 23
Clark 0 0 0 0 0 Janosky 2 6 8
Gilbert 2 8 0 0 5 K. Haskell 1 2
Perry 1 2 0 0 3 Wing 0 0 0
Gosselin 0 0 0 0 0 Donar 4 9 11
Totals 12 41 8 13 36 18 51 16 20 56
Foxcroft 4 16 22 36
Erskine 6 15 31 56
3-pt. goals: Foxcroft (4-10): White 2-4, Perry 1-1, Gilbert 1-3, Carey 0-1, Withee 0-1; Erskine (4-14): Donar 2-4, D. Haskell 1-3, Childs 1-1, Demuth 0-5, Janosky 0-1
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