BANGOR – Fourteen points in an Eastern Maine Class D semifinal win against the defending state champions? A nice offensive effort.

Shutting down the 2007 tournament MVP and knocking off the defending state champion?

Now that’s memorable.

Woodland’s Chad James did all of that Thursday afternoon as the No. 3 Dragons upset No. 2 Deer Isle-Stonington 48-40. James scored 14 points and stopped Collin Ciomei in Woodland’s defensive scheme.

The Dragons, now 15-6, move to Saturday morning’s Eastern Maine Class D final. They’ll face No. 1 Central Aroostook of Mars Hill, which beat No. 5 Fort Fairfield 75-61 in Thursday’s second semifinal. It will be Woodland’s first trip to an EM final in at least 10 years.

Mariner junior Eben Powers poured in a game-high 21 points, including 12 in the third quarter as DI-S attempted to rally from a 15-point deficit.

But no other Mariner player managed more than four points. Ciomei scored four, all in the fourth quarter.

Woodland went to an unusual 1-1-2-1 zone scheme – one that coach Troy Cilley said he didn’t want to use – with four players packed inside. It was also a bit risky with 6-foot-4 Ciomei’s size advantage over the 5-9 James.

“I hate those kind of defenses but it worked,” Cilley said. “… I don’t know if anybody’s held [Ciomei] to four points in the last two or three years. Ciomei’s a great player and had a big size advantage, but Chad did an impressive job for a guy his size.”

With all the defenders inside, the Mariners needed to make some jumpers but went 3-for-14 from 3-point range and 17-for-41 overall.

“It was a junk defense, which we really haven’t seen before,” said Ciomei, who had four blocks and five rebounds. “We were taking outside shots because they were sitting there, giving them to us. We didn’t hit them.”

James and Scott Boomer guarded Ciomei, depending on which side of the floor he came down. It happened Ciomei tended to the right, which was James’ side.

“I just stuck right with him,” James said. “It seemed like he was OK with staying away from the ball. Hey, it worked for us.”

The Mariners generated offense in the third quarter with a trapping defense. That helped DI-S cut the lead to five points at the end of the third quarter and eventually get it down to two when Powers hit a leaning jumper with 1:43 left in the fourth.

The Mariners couldn’t get any closer, however. The Dragons pulled out the ball, forcing Deer Isle-Stonington to foul. James went 6-for-7 and Ben Sears (10 points) added two more down the stretch.

Aaron St. Pierre had 12 points and Spencer Brown had nine points and six rebounds. Woodland led 27-17 on the boards.

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

990-8193

DRAGONS 48, MARINERS 40

Woodland (15-6) DI-Stonington (18-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Curtis 0 2 0 0 0 E. Powrs 9 12 2 2 21

St. Pierre 5 10 1 1 12 Pinkham 1 4 3

James 4 6 9 10 17 Ciomei 1 8 4

Boomer 0 2 0 2 0 Boutilier 2 4

Sears 4 6 2 2 10 Rollins 2 5 4

Brown 4 8 1 2 9 Carter 2 7 4

D. Powrs 0 3 0

Totals 17 34 13 17 48 Totals 17 41 40

Woodland 11 21 33 48

DI-Stonington 9 14 28 40

3-pt. goals – Woodland (1-3): St. Pierre 1-2, James 0-1; DI-Stonington (3-14): E. Powers 1-2, Pinkham 1-4, Ciomei 1-4, Rollins 0-1, Carter 0-1, D. Powers 0-2