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BANGOR – Free-throw shooting success – or lack thereof – can be contagious.
Fortunately for the Camden Hills of Rockport boys basketball team, Paul Campbell was having none of it late Saturday afternoon, and because of that the Windjammers are the Eastern Maine Class B boys basketball champions.
After Camden Hills made one of its first nine free-throw tries of the fourth quarter to aid a late Mattanawcook Academy rally, the junior guard calmly stepped to the line and made two free throws with 18.8 seconds left to help the No. 3 ‘Jammers preserve a 61-60 victory over the No. 5 Lynx in the regional final at the Bangor Auditorium.
The win gave coach Jeff Hart’s program its seventh EM title in the last 14 seasons, and the 18-3 Windjammers will play for their fifth state championship during that span Friday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland against Mountain Valley of Rumford.
Mountain Valley defeated Greely of Cumberland Center 39-32 Saturday night to win its second straight Western B crown.
Mattanawcook ended its season with a 17-5 record.
Camden Hills maintained a comfortable lead for most of the regional final and took a 55-43 lead when center Nick Wootton scored off a feed from Christian Pieri with 2:30 left.
But just as the Windjammers’ depth became depleted as Gordon Fischer and Paul Draper fouled out within a 53-second span, so, too, did the team’s free-throw shooting accuracy disappear.
And MA took full advantage, outscoring Camden Hills 14-4 to get within 59-57 behind junior guard Derek Libbey, who scored a game-high 24 points.
Libbey made three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt with 43.8 seconds left, then rebounded a miss of another long-range shot on MA’s next possession and hit a 3-pointer to draw MA within 59-57 with 23.7 seconds to play.
Campbell was fouled seconds later and made both of his attempts without so much as touching the rim to give Camden Hills a two-possession lead.
“We’ve been shooting at least a hundred free throws a day in practice, and we were ready to make some free throws today, but I think the Bangor Auditorium got to us a little bit and we weren’t able to hit them down the stretch,” said Campbell.
“I just tried to stay calm, and from taking so many in practice, it was hard to miss. I just knew I had to end it right there.”
MA’s Brady Vose (12 points) hit a 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left, but the Lynx were out of timeouts and time expired.
“My kids deserve a lot of credit,” said Mattanawcook coach Rick Sinclair. “My kids battled and showed some incredible fortitude and desire, and we surely demonstrated it down 12 points with two minutes left against Camden Hills, who is known for putting teams away at that point.”
Camden Hills made just 33 percent (6 of 18) of its free throws overall while shooting 50 percent (25 of 50) from the field.
“We’re like a 70 or 75 percent free-throw shooting team, but you see it at every level,” said Hart. “It happens, but we survived it.”
Wootton led Camden Hills with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Jared Mitchell scored 10 points and the backcourt tandem of Pieri (13 points) and Campbell (10 points) combined for nine assists and five steals.
“You could go to some places and ask who our guards are, and they couldn’t tell you,” said Hart. “But man, did they play well – and they’re only juniors.”
WINDJAMMERS 61, LYNX 60
Mattanawcook (17-5) Camden Hills (18-3)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Gardner 3 7 2 3 9 Campbell 3 10
Libbey 7 22 8 12 24 Fischer 2 4 4
Vose 4 15 3 3 12 Wootton 8 11 0 16
Smith 2 3 3 3 8 Mitchell 4 10 0 0 10
White 3 3 0 0 6 Draper 1 5 3
Young 0 3 0 0 0 Smith 2 5 5
Langevin 0 2 1 2 1 Lammi 0 0 0
Cates 0 0 0 0
Pieri 5 8 1 13
Totals 19 55 17 23 60 Totals 25 50 18 61
Mattanawcook Acad. 12 25 38 60
Camden Hills 18 33 46 61
3-pt. goals – Mattanawcook (5-17): Libbey 2-9, Smith 1-1, Gardner 1-2, Vose 1-5; Camden Hills (5-15): Pieri 2-2, Mitchell 2-7, Smith 1-1, Campbell 0-1, Wootton 0-1, Draper 0-3
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