BANGOR – While Camden Hills of Rockport made only six of its 18 free-throw tries during its 61-60 win over Mattanawcook Academy in Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class B boys final, MA coach Rick Sinclair was left after the game to lament one of the free throws the Windjammers did make.

A call went against the Lynx early in the fourth quarter, and when Sinclair then rose from the Lynx bench, he was assessed a technical foul by referee Jeff Jewett, who was standing along the baseline at the other end of the court.

Camden Hills’ Paul Draper made one of two from the line, extending his team’s lead at that point to 49-38.

“You sit here and you watch the John Bapst girls game before our game and you watch what their coach does, the antics he goes through and the fits he has and the hollering he does, and nobody T’s him up,” said Sinclair. “Then you watch our game and I put my hands straight up in the air, never said one word, and he’s 70 feet from me and gives me a ‘T’ because he thinks I’m in obvious disbelief.

“It’s just a real sick feeling that we lost by one point and on my technical they made one out of the two foul shots. It’s just too bad to think that that’s the situation and somebody’s real sensitive and they can’t realize the situation. I can understand it if I’m standing there stomping my feet or running out of the coach’s box, but I stood up within two feet of my chair and put my hands up because of the call.

“That’s the one point and that’s the difference.”

Chapman’s comeback campaign

Last year, Michelle Chapman could only watch and cheer from the bench as her Dexter Tigers won the program’s fourth straight Eastern Maine Class D title.

This year, she’s an active participant and a key member of the Tigers’ run to a fifth straight regional crown.

“It was nice to win a championship, but it was hard to sit on the bench last year,” Chapman said. “It’s just nice to be able to get back to Eastern Maines and be able to play in it this year.”

Chapman missed her entire sophomore basketball season after undergoing surgery to repair a right thumb ligament that was torn in a field hockey game.

“She didn’t rush back because she’s a tremendous softball pitcher and wanted to allow plenty of time to heal,” said Dexter girls basketball coach Jody Grant. “It was tough for her because even with the talented group we had last year, she would have played some.”

Chapman not only completely rehabilitated her way back to 100 percent last summer, she improved herself.

“I knew I’d have to handle the ball a lot more because we really only had one guard back,” Chapman explained. “All the guards knew we’d see a lot of pressing, so we worked on our dribbling a lot this preseason.”

Chapman has become one of Dexter’s more dependable ballhandlers as well as a top defender.

“The one word I use for Michelle is tenacious, especially on defense,” Grant said. “She loves to play defense and loves to have the assignment of guarding one of the best players on the other team and she works hard on it.”

Chapman, who tapes her thumb just to give it extra support and prevent injury, said it’s her team’s defense that has gotten them back to states a fifth straight year.

“We definitely worked really hard to get this far and I don’t really think a lot of people thought we could do it losing three really good players. I think it’s our defense that’s gotten us back here. It picks us up when our offense isn’t working.”

Calais fine at the line

Addressing free-throw shooting woes is a touchy subject, because the more the team talks about it, the more a team thinks about it.

But after Calais shot a combined 12 of 28 (43 percent) from the line Wednesday in its quarterfinal win over Penquis of Milo and its semifinal victory over Houlton on Friday night, Blue Devils coach Ed Leeman felt like he had nothing to lose by bringing up the subject to his players.

“We had our shootaround [Saturday], and I never, ever say anything to the boys about shooting because it becomes psychological and they start to think, ‘OK, I’ve got to make these,’ and then there becomes too much pressure.

“But we didn’t make many free throws against Houlton, and the first night wasn’t any better, so I literally looked at the boys and said, ‘Boys, you’ve got to eye the target, eye the front of the rim, and then just stick the shot,’ because it just couldn’t get any worse.”

The Blue Devils responded not by overthinking the subject, but by making free throws. Calais hit 15 of 22, or 68 percent, from the line in Saturday night’s 62-59 win over Piscataquis of Guilford in the Eastern Maine Class C final.

Even more impressive, the Blue Devils made 14 of 18 (78 percent) in the final quarter, 14 of 17 in the game’s final 2 minutes, 27 seconds after PCHS was forced to foul during its comeback attempt.

“All season long we’ve been decent from the line,” said senior forward Chris Taylor, “but last game we were 4 of 15, so tonight was great for us.”

Junior forward Rod Tirrell led the way for Calais in the late going. He missed his first free-throw try of the final period, then made seven straight during the game’s final 52.8 seconds.

“He’s a great shooter,” said Leeman. “Rod’s a good shooter normally, and he likes those points, too, so when he steps to the line he’s putting them in the book for himself.”

Junior guard Sam Bell added four straight in the late going, and Brandon Tomah also hit two free throws down the stretch.

“I don’t know if my words helped or not,” said Leeman, “but it’s a blessing that we made those foul shots in the last quarter.”