BANGOR – Finally the old deflated basketball in the Winslow trophy case will have some company.

The ball, marked with etchings proclaiming a 1938 Winslow state championship, was taken out of the trophy case and brought to the Bangor Auditorium on Saturday afternoon.

It turned out to be a good-luck charm as the fifth-seeded Black Raiders upset second-seeded and Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference rival Erskine Academy of South China 52-48 to win the Eastern Maine Class B boys title.

The 17-4 Black Raiders will play Mountain Valley of Rumford at approximately 9 p.m. Saturday for the state championship at the Augusta Civic Center.

The game came down to a few final possessions in the fourth quarter and Winslow senior Micah Grant was involved in all of them.

Grant finished with 26 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter. Grant hit a 15-foot jumper from the left to give the Black Raiders a brief 46-44 lead with 1:46 remaining.

The play had been set up by a steal by Winslow junior Josh LaPointe, whose defense led to the turnover.

“It was right place, right time,” LaPointe said. “I was trying to deny [Erskine point guard Kenny Demuth] from getting the ball back because he runs their offense and he tried to go to the basket. I just stepped in. He pretty much just gave it to me.”

Erskine’s Matt Donar, who had 13 points, then hit a pair of free throws to re-tie the game. Once again Winslow looked to Grant, who obliged with a 6-foot bank shot from the left after scrambling free of a trap. Grant added a free throw on the Black Raiders’ following possession.

“The [shots] were there,” Grant said. “I just told myself ‘you’re a senior, you’ve got to take them.’ Fortunately they went down and we came out on top.”

Charlie Janosky scored off an offensive rebound with 1.9 seconds remaining to pull Erskine back to within one. But the Eagles’ ensuing foul on Grant after the ball had been inbounded was deemed intentional and the Erskine bench was whistled for a technical foul. Grant made three of the four free throws for the final margin.

Janosky, one of only two Erskine senior starters, almost single-handedly brought the Eagles back.

With Erskine trailing 29-25 at the half, Janosky went on a run, scoring nine of his 20 points as Erskine outscored the Black Raiders 13-4 in the third quarter to take a 38-33 lead.

But the Black Raiders were solid offensively, particularly at the free-throw line, where they converted 14-of-19 attempts while the Eagles were 6-of-12.

Winslow junior Adam Haskell scored eight points and did an excellent job on the boards, grabbing 11 rebounds. He watched as the old ball was being passed around and laughed.

“That old ball’s been around a long time. Time to get a new one,” Haskell said.

BLACK RAIDERS 52, EAGLES 48

Winslow (17-4) Erskine (17-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

LaPointe 1 3 0 0 2 Demuth 1 8 2

Sirois 0 0 0 0 0 Dow 0 0 1

Helberg 1 2 0 0 3 Childs 0 2 0

Carrier 0 0 0 0 0 D. Haskell 2 4

Lopez 3 6 4 4 11 Glidden 0 1 0

Grant 9 15 8 12 26 Jones 3 4 6

Blodgett 0 0 0 0 0 Janosky 7 12 20

Boutin 1 5 0 0 2 K. Haskell 1 2

Haskell 3 6 2 3 8 Donar 5 14 13

Totals 18 37 14 19 52 Totals 19 49 12 48

Winslow 14 29 33 52

Erskine Academy 14 25 38 48

3-pt. goals: Winslow (2-8): Helberg 1-2, Lopez 1-3, LaPointe 0-1, Grant 0-2; Erskine (4-16): Janosky 3-4, Donar 1-4, Childs 0-2, Demuth 0-3, D. Haskell 0-3