Henry leads GSA to state title

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BANGOR – At the beginning of the season, George Stevens Academy boys basketball coach Matt Mattson became a salesman. He went to work on selling a team defense concept to the Eagles.

Friday night at Bangor Auditorium, Mattson received the commission on his sale – a gold ball. It was George Stevens first boys basketball state championship since 1979.

Senior Nick Henry scored 32 points and the Eagles of Blue Hill beat Western Maine champ Winthrop 66-58 for the Class C state championship.

This was a night that Henry will long remember. The 6-foot-3 senior could do no wrong. He scored the first eight GSA points on a variety of jumpers from close range and quickly showed the Ramblers’ weakness in size.

“I just wanted to come out and prove that we could do it. My game plan’s a 15-footer. I was just stepping up and making them. It was a big night. My last game as a senior,” Henry said.

In fact, the Winthrop size deficit was further exposed by GSA’s Travis Templeton. The 6-6 senior worked the offensive glass hard.

“I just started to put myself in a position to get to work the offensive glass. I’m just a role player,” Templeton said.

Maybe. But Templeton, who has had a problem with getting into foul trouble from time to time this season, managed to stay on the floor in the biggest game of the year. He scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

“I was concentrating on fronting my man more often in the post so as not to get any reaching fouls. And when he turned I just stayed on my feet,” Templeton said.

The 19-3 Ramblers were led by senior guard Ian McCarthy who had 19 points. McCarthy ended the first half with a bang on a half-court shot and then opened the second half with a 3-pointer that gave the Ramblers their biggest lead of the night at 34-27.

But 20-2 GSA fought back behind Henry. Henry connected on 11 of 15 from the floor and 10 for 14 from the charity stripe.

GSA shot 50 percent from the floor as a team, hitting on 21 of 42 and it did the job at the free throw line, making 22 of 29.

Henry’s short-range jumper tied the score at 37 with 3:02 to go in the third and the Ramblers shot themselves in the foot on the following GSA possession.

First they left GSA senior Mark Clapp wide open for a 3-pointer that he calmly made and the Ramblers were called for a foul away from the ball on the play.

Because of the foul, Clapp’s 3-pointer counted and GSA retained the ball. The Eagles inbounded the ball from under their basket and quickly found Henry who made a lane spinner.

“I just tried to work within the offense. Work off the screens,” Henry said.

The Eagles might have been able to put more distance between themselves and the Ramblers if they hadn’t turned the ball over eight times in the fourth quarter and allowed Winthrop to stay within striking distance.

GSA had little trouble with Winthrop’s full-court press in the first half. But senior point guard Mike Astbury picked up his fourth foul seconds into the second half and had to leave the game.

The Ramblers intensified the pressure and it resulted in the Eagles turning the ball over.

But the Ramblers’ scored infrequently when attacking the basket with Henry and Templeton looming in the middle. And beyond McCarthy their outside shots didn’t fall down the stretch.

“[Henry] was good. But we can play better than that. We just had a tough game. We didn’t play our game. It’s just a bad night,” McCarthy said.

Dustin Harrington had 12 points and Kyle Knight had 10 points for the Ramblers.

EAGLES 66, RAMBLERS 58

Winthrop (19-3) George Stevens (20-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Childs 1 1 3 5 5 Astbury 1 3 5

Allen 0 0 0 0 0 Clapp 2 5 9

M.McCarthy 0 0 0 0 0 Ledien 1 6 3

Poulin 0 5 0 0 0 Friend 0 0 0

I.McCarthy 8 15 0 0 19 Carter 0 0 0

Knight 3 6 0 0 7 Allen 0 0 0

Thompson 0 0 0 0 0 Freedman 2 7

Michaud 0 0 0 0 0 Henry 11 15 10 14 32

Harrington 5 9 1 2 12 Templeton 4 10

Garwood 2 7 1 2 6 Saunders 0 0

Weisberger 4 8 1 1 9 Candage 0 0 0

J.Burnham 0 0 0 0 0

C.Burnham 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 23 51 6 10 58 21 42 22 29 66

Winthrop 12 31 42 58

George Stevens 17 27 46 66

3-pt. goals ? Winthrop (6-17): I.McCarthy 3-5, Knight 1-2, Garwood 1-3, Harrington 1-4, Poulin 0-1, Weisberger 0-2; GSA (2-7): Clapp 2-3, Ledien 0-4