BANGOR – Things couldn’t have been much worse for the Calvary Chapel Christian Academy boys at the Bangor Auditorium Saturday afternoon.

They were down a point 51/2 minutes after having taken an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter, two starters had fouled out, and they were facing the prospect of trying to bring the ball up the court against one of the best pressing teams in the tourney.

Rather than wilt under the pressure generated from a fierce rally by the No. 2 Central Aroostook Panthers, the top-seeded Sabers’ players – who had played in only one other close game all season – refused to be rattled. Instead, they made some changes, redoubled their efforts, and trusted their teammates to execute.

The result was an 86-80 overtime victory in the Eastern Maine Class D title game for Calvary Chapel, a 2-year-old school in Orrington with a small enrollment and a towering team. The 21-0 Sabers take on Western Maine champ Valley of Bingham in a 3 p.m. state final game Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center.

“This will go down, as far as I’m concerned, as one of the better Class D games ever played here,” said coach Tim Brewer, whose Panthers finished 20-2. “I’m no historian, but it’s got to be one of the better ballgames period.”

He’ll get no argument from the 1,900 fans in attendance as the game had more twists than a bag of pretzels and enough drama and suspense to make Alfred Hitchcock envious.

The Sabers used a 14-3 run led by Josh Madden (31 points, 18 rebounds, two blocks) and Kyle Bradford to turn a two-point lead into 59-46 with 1:46 left in the third period.

Things remained comfortable until Bryan Grew and Taylor McLaughlin led a big Panther rally with a 12-2 run in the first half of the fourth quarter.

From then on, it was nip and tuck as the Panthers’ press was wearing down the almost un-pressable Sabers. If that wasn’t bad enough, Calvary point guard Brock Bradford (11 points, five assists) fouled out with 5:19 to play and Mike Astle followed him to the bench three minutes later.

“I didn’t think I could press them at the intensity level I needed to all game long,” said Brewer. “My game plan was to press them whenever [Bradford] went out of the game anyway because he makes the whole team go. He’s the ideal point guard. You’re not going to find much better than that, and he’s their best defender.”

That prompted some radical revamping for the Sabers.

“We didn’t have our point guard and one of our off guards, so I went back to point, which I haven’t played since sophomore year,” said brother Kyle Bradford. “I did OK. I had a couple turnovers that made it more exciting, but we survived it.”

That’s a good way to put it, considering seven of Calvary’s uncharacteristic 24 turnovers came in the fourth quarter.

The Panthers grabbed their first lead (72-71) since early in the second quarter with 2:09 left in regulation. Two lead changes later, Andrew York’s 3-pointer with 1:03 to play put CAHS up 77-75. Kyle Bradford (16 points, five rebounds, six assists) then tied it on a 17-footer from the right wing with 37 seconds left.

The Panthers set up for a last shot, but 5-foot-9 junior guard Tyler Dean, who was used very sparingly before Astle fouled out, stole the ball with 13 seconds to go. Seven seconds later, CAHS returned the favor via Taylor McLaughlin and called timeout with six ticks left.

Tim Carlson’s contested shot from the left wing bounced off the rim, but Grew got the rebound and laid the ball up from the right block. The ball bounced off as time ran out.

CAHS took an 80-79 lead on York’s 3-pointer with 3:12 to go in overtime, but that would be its last lead, last basket, and last points.

Madden hit a baseline runner and, a CAHS miss later, Bradford hit one of two from the line to make it 82-80.

Dean, Calvary’s smallest player, then made one of overtime’s biggest plays by literally ripping a rebound of a missed 3 away with 40 seconds left.

“I was kind of nervous going in, but I just prayed I could do something for the team,” said Dean. “Coach wanted me to concentrate on good defense [on York and McLaughlin] and taking care of the ball.”

Madden rebounded a miss, drew a foul, and hit both shots with 24 seconds left and then iced it 20 seconds later with two more free throws.

“I’ve been blessed to be here three times in a row, and hopefully we can win a state this year,” said Madden, who played for Bangor Christian the previous two seasons.

The Sabers set a record for 3-pointers in a tournament with 30, shattering Bangor’s 1997 A mark and Limestone’s 1993 C mark of 24 along with CAHS’ 1996 D record of 21.

SABERS 86, PANTHERS 80 (OT)

Central Aroostook (20-2) Calvary Chapel (21-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Martinez 0 0 0 0 0 Dean 0 0 0

J.Clockedile 0 0 0 0 0 B.Bradford 4 12 3 4 11

McLaughlin 3 4 1 1 7 Madden 11 21 31

York 6 17 6 7 22 Gans 4 7 0 8

Grew 9 19 3 5 21 K.Bradford 6 16 16

Carlson 2 7 0 0 5 Astle 3 5 8

Woodworth 8 18 1 2 19 Miller 6 8 12

Walsh 2 4 2 2 6

Crew 0 1 0 0 0

Totals 30 70 13 17 80 Totals 34 69 11 16 86

Central Aroostook 20 36 52 77 80

Calvary Chapel 19 39 61 77 86

3-pt. goals ? CAHS (7-20): York 4-10, Woodworth 2-6, Carlson 1-2, Grew 0-2; Calvary Chapel (7-24): K. Bradford 3-11, Astle 2-3, Madden 2-7, B. Bradford 0-3