AUGUSTA – Ten athletes from central Aroostook County who have been playing basketball together since they were in junior high school accomplished something Saturday that hadn’t been done since the Nixon administration.

“These guys are amazing. We’re just one big family. We’ve all grown up together, we’ve all had dreams of winning a gold ball together, and to do it twice in our high school careers, it’s amazing,” said senior Andrew York after his Central Aroostook of Mars Hill Panthers defeated Richmond 65-55 at the Augusta Civic Center.

The win was the Panthers’ 22nd straight since an opening-night loss and they became the first Eastern Maine Class D boys team to win consecutive state titles since Jonesport-Beals won the last of its five straight crowns in 1974.

CAHS finished 22-1 while the Bobcats wound up at 17-4.

The Panthers started strong, jumping out to a 13-2 lead in the game’s first 2 minutes, 42 seconds.

The scrappy young Bobcats did not panic, turning to one advantage they had: 6-foot-10 inch sophomore center Marc Zaharchuk.

Throughout the second quarter, the Panthers had to settle for outside jump shots with Zaharchuk clogging the paint.

“The big kid [Zaharchuk] obviously was the difference,” Central Aroostook Tim Brewer said. “We didn’t attack him at first. We knew in the second half we were gonna have to pressure the ball a lot more and limit his touches.”

The Panthers made a key halftime adjustment, switching their offensive game plan into an attack mode, and when the Bobcats switched to a 2-3 zone, CAHS attacked the basket and got Zaharchuk in foul trouble. He picked up his fourth midway through the third quarter.

“We’ve relied on our defense a lot this year, defense wins championships, that’s what everyone says,” York said. “We’ve got guys like Taylor [McLaughlin] and Eric [Martinez] who don’t really care about scoring points. They’ll play ‘D.'”

Martinez said the Panthers are like a close-knit family.

“We’re just a great team, we bond together, everybody knows everybody and everybody knows their role,” he said.

York led a balanced Panthers offense with 21 points and added four steals on the defensive end. Carlson tallied 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Martinez connected for 13 points and McLaughlin notched eight points and eight boards.

The Bobcats closed to within three at one point in the second quarter. However, Zaharchuk’s foul trouble and the Panthers inside-out offensive firepower contributed to a 15-6 run that gave Central Aroostook its largest lead at 49-31 with just over three minutes to play in the third.

“I think it [our lack of experience] showed,” Richmond coach Paul Lancaster said. “They’re a great team that shoots the ball extremely well. You can’t really key on one guy to stop cause they can all shoot the ball well.”

Zaharchuk led Richmond with 19 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Cen. Aroostook (22-1) Richmond (17-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

C. York 1 3 0 0 2 Christie 1 3

McLaughln 4 9 0 2 8 Gibbs 0 1 2

A. York 6 21 6 6 21 Nash 0 1 0

Carlson 4 21 6 11 16 Boles 1 1 2

Clockedile 2 5 0 0 5 K.Lncster 2 6

E. Martinz 6 11 0 1 13 Milne 1 7 2

M. Martinz 0 0 0 0 0 B.Lncster 3 7

L. McCrthy 0 0 0 0 0 Kendrick 5 13 0 0 11

Chaisson 0 0 0

Clifford 0 0 0

Carter 1 3 0 3

Zaharchk 9 12 19

Totals 23 70 12 20 65 Totals 23 55 55

Cen. Aroostook 24 34 49 65

Richmond 12 25 34 55

3-pt. goals – Central Aroostook (7-24): A. York 3-10, Carlson 2-8, Clockedile 1-3, E. Martinez 1-3; Richmond (4-16): Carter 1-2, K. Lancaster 1-3, B. Lancaster 1-3, Kendrick 1-6, Nash 0-1, Milne 0-1