BANGOR – Seven minutes, 10 seconds is a long time to play in a basketball game with four fouls.

Especially when you’re the biggest guy on the floor.

But 6-foot-10 center Jordan Cook of Hampden Academy not only coped with the foul trouble after picking up his fourth just 50 seconds into the final quarter of Monday night’s Eastern Maine Class A championship game, he thrived.

Cook scored seven of his game-high 16 points and grabbed seven of his game-high 19 rebounds over the final seven minutes of play as the No. 9 Broncos outlasted No. 2 Oxford Hills of South Paris 47-40 at the Bangor Auditorium to win their first regional title since claiming the Eastern B crown in 1982.

“I just couldn’t take as many risks, and when guys were driving to the basket I had to lay off and just get a hand up in the air and try to alter the shot, I really couldn’t try to block it,” said Cook, who also had seven blocked shots. “We just needed to keep playing good team defense, move our feet, and rebound the ball.”

The victory advances Hampden (18-4) to Saturday’s state final against 17-4 Deering of Portland, which edged previously undefeated Cheverus of Portland 45-42 in Monday’s Western Maine title game.

Oxford Hills finished with a 17-4 record.

This game was a grinder throughout, with neither team able to sustain a consistent offensive flow. That stemmed, in part, from strong defense on both sides – neither team had allowed an opponent to score more than 40 points in any of their previous tournament games.

But Hampden had the difference maker in Cook, who stood six inches taller than any opponent and dominated the backboards, leading the Broncos to a 43-30 rebounding edge.

He dominated even after drawing his fourth foul, with the resulting two free throws by Leif Kothe giving Oxford Hills a 32-31 lead with 7:10 left.

“I didn’t want them to grab momentum,” said Hampden coach Russ Bartlett of his decision to keep Cook on the court. “With Jordan on the floor, the only way they were going to grab momentum is if he fouled out, and I just told him he couldn’t foul, I would rather give up a layup.”

Cook did flirt with a fifth foul as he went for a block on one Oxford Hills possession with just over five minutes left, but mostly he let his sheer height relegate the Vikings to the perimeter.

“They’re not going to call a fifth foul on him up here, that’s not going to happen,” said Oxford Hills coach Scott Graffam. “I’ve been here enough times to know that that was not going to be a factor in this game, which I think is a good thing. I’m not getting down on the officials at all, I’m just saying the game should be decided by the children and not the officials, and it was.”

Senior guard Blaine Meehan added 11 points and six rebounds for Hampden, while Josh McNutt and J Uhrin scored seven points each, and Pat Moran grabbed eight rebounds.

Senior guard Matt McDonnell led Oxford Hills with 12 points, but shot 4 of 17 from the field while under Meehan’s stifling defensive harassment.

“I had no idea of how good he was, I had never heard of him until this tournament,” Meehan said. “He’s quick, and everyone set screens for him. He was pretty hard to guard, but I think I did pretty well on him.”

Oxford Hills shot 23 percent (14 of 59) overall and made just 1 of 20 3-point tries.

“We didn’t shoot the ball,” said Graffam. “Hampden played very well defensively. I thought we played very well defensively. We just didn’t make any shots. We had some easy shots we didn’t make.”

Hampden shot just 21 percent in the first half (5 of 23) and made just 6 of 11 free throws but used defense to stay within 23-17 at the break.

Cook was quiet, with two points and five rebounds. But that soon changed – he had 14 points and 14 boards in the second half.

“In the second half, he rebounded like a man and we finally got him some touches,” Bartlett said. “He asserted himself a little and showed some good leadership in the second half.”

Meehan followed in his own miss and Cook went inside for back-to-back baskets as the Broncos outscored Oxford Hills 9-2 to take their first lead at 26-25 on a fast-break layup by Moran with 3:38 left in the third quarter.

That marked the first of five lead changes in the second half, the final one coming with 4:51 left in the game when Meehan again followed in his own miss to give the Broncos a 35-34 advantage. That came after a baseline jumper by teammate Josh McNutt that ignited a 9-0 run that put this game away.

The next five points came from the free-throw line, as Moran went 1 for 2 and Meehan and Cook added two free throws each to extend the Broncos’ cushion to 40-34 with 2:16 left.

Oxford Hills mounted one final comeback as McDonnell made a pair of free throws and scored from the low post to draw the Vikings within 40-38 with 1:26 left.

OH’s Leif Kothe tied up Hampden’s Daniel McCue, but the possession arrow favored Hampden. McCue then was fouled, and he made two free throws to make it a two-possession game with a minute left.

Oxford Hills looked for offense on the perimeter, but found nothing there, and Hampden made 5 of 8 free throws in the final 45 seconds to put the game away.

“We thought we could definitely contend,” Cook said. “Our goal was to get here, and once we beat Bangor we thought we could go all the way.”

BRONCOS 47, VIKINGS 40

Hampden Acad. (18-4) Oxford Hills (18-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Meehan 4 13 3 4 11 Estes 0 0 0

Moran 1 9 1 5 3 McVety 2 3 4

McNutt 1 1 5 10 7 L. Kothe 3 12 4 4 10

Uhrin 2 6 2 2 7 Foley 0 0 0

McCue 0 4 3 4 3 Powell 1 4 2

Cook 5 11 6 7 16 Saunders 1 4 2

Silver 0 0 0 0 0 McDonnell 4 17 4 6 12

Cash 0 0 0 0

T. Kothe 2 14 6

Ryerson 0 2 0 0

Decato 1 3 1 4

Totals 13 44 20 32 47 Totals 14 59 11 19 40

Hampden Acad. 4 17 29 47

Oxford Hills 8 23 30 40

3-pt. goals – Hampden Academy (1-7): Uhrin 1-2, Meehan 0-1, McCue 0-4; Oxford Hills (1-20): Decato 1-2, Saunders 0-1, Ryerson 0-1, Powell 0-2, T. Kothe 0-4, McDonnell 0-5, L. Kothe 0-5