PORTLAND – With the physical ferocity of a football team, Mountain Valley of Rumford clamped down on Camden Hills and made Class B boys basketball history Saturday afternoon.

Andy Shorey scored seven of his game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter to fuel the Falcons’ 48-38 victory over the Windjammers in a tense and sometimes sloppy state final at Cumberland County Civic Center.

Mountain Valley (19-3) captured its third state Class B crown and first since 1994. Twelve of its players also became the first athletes to lead their school to Class B hoop and football state titles in the same school year. Dexter was the only school to accomplish a similar feat, ruling Class B basketball and Class D football in 1985-86.

“They’re just really physical,” said Camden Hills coach Jeff Hart. “We’ve played against physical teams before. We could have adjusted to that. They didn’t do anything we hadn’t seen before. We just didn’t execute. Hats off to them for playing good defense.”

Junior Paul Campbell scored 13 points on 5-for-16 shooting for Camden Hills of Rockport (17-5), which fell shy in its quest for a fourth gold ball in seven seasons. Hailing from the conference of the same name, Mountain Valley and the MVC halted the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference’s streak of consecutive Class B state championships at six.

With Owen Jones drawing the primary defensive assignment, Camden Hills sophomore and KVAC all-star big man Gordon Fischer was held scoreless. Fischer fought foul trouble throughout and briefly required medical attention after trying to block D.J. Gerrish under the basket in the third quarter.

“We knew they were really big,” said Gerrish. “We decided we were just going to play the toughest defense we could and see where it took us.”

Led by burly Mr. Basketball finalist Shorey and stocky sophomore point guard Justin Staires (12 points), Mountain Valley fit a different definition of “big.”

Both teams shot an ungainly 29 percent from the field, but the Falcons enjoyed the majority of first-miss forgiveness. Jones, Shorey, Dean McCrillis and reserves Bryan Canwell and Matt Lyons were the chief culprits as Mountain Valley wrapped its mitts around 23 offensive rebounds.

Second chances factored heavily into the Falcons’ decisive fourth-quarter surge. McCrillis’ offensive rebound and a quick feed from Matt Laubauskas triggered Shorey’s three-point play to ignite a 9-0 run.

Shorey scored the next two baskets on putbacks. Lastly, McCrillis made a steal and worked the ball to Canwell, who found Jones in transition for a 43-32 lead with 3:23 remaining.

“Every practice this week was about defense and rebounding,” said Shorey. “It was all about mental toughness. I don’t think we played a very good game offensively at all, but we kept playing defense.”

Camden Hills smothered Shorey in the first quarter, limiting the all-state quarterback and center to two free throws. The Windjammers felt his pain at the other end, though, going scoreless for the final four minutes. Jones, Staires and Gerrish each scored in the period for the Falcons to stake out an 8-7 lead.

Seniors Paul Draper and Nick Wootton nailed consecutive 3-pointers to put the Windjammers on top by five early in the second quarter.

Playing with two fouls, Shorey ended a Mountain Valley field-goal drought of more than seven minutes with a second-opportunity basket. Later, Shorey’s tip-in tied it at 17, and a Laubauskas free throw put the Falcons in front for good with 1:26 remaining in the half. It was 20-19 at the break.

“It was pretty good defense at both ends,” Hart said. “They got a lot of second chances and we didn’t get any.”

Staires erupted for eight points early in the third to secure a nine-point Mountain Valley lead. Campbell’s 3-pointer crept Camden Hills within 34-32 before Shorey’s finishing kick.

Christian Pieri added eight points and Dylan Smith six off the bench for Camden Hills.

Mountain Valley head coach Dave Gerrish and assistant Andy Shorey Sr. preceded their sons as state champions, capturing the Class A title for Rumford High School in 1976 and 1977.

“It’s pretty cool,” the elder Gerrish said. “When you coach your own kids, more than anything else you want them to have fun. The last couple weeks, you could see in their eyes that it has been pretty fun.”

FALCONS 48, WINDJAMMERS 38

Camden Hills (17-5) Mountain Val. (19-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Campbell 5 16 2 2 13 Jones 3 11 6

Pieri 1 6 6 7 8 Staires 5 16 12

Fischer 0 2 0 0 0 Gerrish 1 8 8

Wootton 2 4 0 0 5 McCrillis 1 2

Mitchell 1 2 0 0 3 Shorey 6 12 16

Draper 1 11 0 0 3 Canwell 0 1 1

Smith 3 3 0 0 6 Lyons 0 2 2

Lammi 0 0 0 0 0 Laubusks 0 1

Kreckel 0 0 0 0

Brennick 0 0 0

Totals 13 44 8 9 38 Totals 16 56 16 25 48

Camden Hills 7 19 27 38

Mountain Valley 8 20 32 48

3-pt. goals – Camden Hills: Campbell, Wootton, Mitchell, Draper