‘Jammers ace ‘midterm’ with win over Black Bears

More than two decades of coaching varsity basketball has taught Jeff Hart that one of the most unpredictable times of the season comes in mid-to-late January, particularly for those teams that rest atop the standings.

“I’ve always believed that when you get to final exam week, if you’re undefeated you better watch it,” said Hart, the boys basketball coach at Camden Hills of Rockport. “You tend to realize that when you haven’t lost and everyone’s still after you, that when it comes to final exam week you might have guys who are sick or banged up and they’re off their game a bit, and they’re maybe spending a little more time studying.

“Sometimes even as a coach you think you’re working hard, but with everything else that’s going on at that time of year maybe you’re really not and that’s when you can get beat.”

Hart has a strong sense for that trend largely from a perch near the top of the Eastern Maine Class B standings, given Camden Hills’ success during his tenure.

But the Windjammers were one of the beneficiaries of that trend last Saturday, when the top-ranked teams in Eastern A, B and D all fell to defeat within an eight-hour span.

In Class A, Mt. Blue of Farmington defeated No. 1 Bangor 54-46 to knock the Rams from the unbeaten ranks during the afternoon. That night, Camden Hills outlasted undefeated Class B leader and defending state champion Maranacook of Readfield 67-64 and Class D top seed Schenck of East Millinocket had its 12-game winning streak ended, 61-59 in overtime, at Piscataquis of Guilford.

Camden Hills, the only team to defeat Maranacook over the last two seasons, gained its second win over the Black Bears during that time frame by rallying from a 40-29 halftime deficit.

“I thought we just got a lot more committed to attacking the basket,” said Hart, whose 10-3 Windjammers moved up to second in the Eastern B standings with the win. “I thought we settled for some shots in the first half. We were a lot more disciplined in the second half, and played a lot harder.”

The key to the Camden Hills comeback was 6-foot-5 sophomore forward Gordon Fischer, who scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter despite playing with four fouls. His three-point play with two seconds left provided the margin of victory.

“He was the difference in the game,” said Hart, who also got 15 points from guard Christian Pieri.

The win leaves Camden Hills in good position to earn a preliminary-round bye when tournament time rolls around next month. Perhaps more importantly, it renewed the Windjammers’ confidence that they can play with a Maranacook team that has been favored to repeat as Eastern B champion.

“We’ve split with them the last two years, and I think we match up pretty well with them because we’ve got good strength in our guards, and we have decent size and enough good athletes,” said Hart. “We played with them for three quarters [at Rockport] early in the year, so we were pretty confident going in. We knew it was going to be a dogfight.”

Piscataquis lost at Schenck by 32 points earlier in the season, but was able to control the tempo in the rematch.

In the first meeting Schenck took 41 free throws compared to eight for PCHS, according to Pirates’ coach Jamie Russell, and had 16 offensive rebounds. In the rematch, PCHS limited Schenck to six offensive rebounds and a 4-of-9 night from the line, compared to 12 of 20 for the Pirates.

“We didn’t practice Friday because of the storm,” said Russell, “so we had a chalk talk at noon Saturday, and that’s what we talked about, fouls, free throws, offensive rebounds and possessions. They had 69 possessions up there, and I told them if they had 69 possessions again they’d beat us again, and that if we could get that number down around 50 we’d have a chance.”

While PCHS fared better in the possession game during the rematch, the Pirates were not without challenges.

Senior center Roy Burdin had to leave the game during the second quarter after being cut under his left eye.

But quick repair work in the locker room enabled him to return to the lineup after intermission, and he scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and overtime while also grabbing 11 rebounds.

Burdin’s cut subsequently required nine stitches.

“If he had to get hurt, it couldn’t have happened at a better time,” said Russell. “We played for one shot right before halftime, and during halftime they got him patched up and it held until he went to the emergency room after the game.”

PCHS also benefited from the presence of guard Brandon London, who played just briefly in the earlier meeting due to illness. On Saturday, he scored 13 points, including the key basket late in overtime.

Senior guard Mike Wharff, the team’s leading scorer, added 11 points and Shane Tracy scored eight for the 12-1 Pirates, who extended their winning streak to 10 games with Monday night with a win against Penobscot Valley of Howland.