The timing couldn’t have been better.

Just days after a new trophy case was delivered to Deer Isle-Stonington High School, the Mariners’ boys basketball team earned something worthy of prominent display – a gold ball.

“The pressure was on,” joked Deer Isle-Stonington coach Glenn Billings, who guided his team to a 76-54 victory over Gould Academy of Bethel in Saturday’s Class D final for the first state title in boys basketball for the area since Stonington High School won back-to-back crowns in 1961 and 1962.

“But it’s just one of those things you put out of your mind.”

The timing of the new trophy case’s arrival was coincidental to the motorcade of 17 emergency vehicles and some 200 passenger vehicles – a motorcade that may be seen on YouTube.com – that greeted the Mariners as they brought their newest piece of championship hardware home.

The trophy case project had been in the works since last spring, according to the school’s athletic administrator, Matt Larsen.

The new case replaces two smaller trophy cases that flanked the front door of the school, trophy cases that had housed the gold balls won by Stonington High.

Space won’t be an issue with the new trophy case, at least until the school wins a few more championships.

“The new one’s so big we can put the student of the month in there,” joked Larsen.

Fundamentals fuel Mariners

A mastery of the basketball basics was the winning formula for this year’s undefeated Deer Isle-Stonington team.

It was quite a prolific formula as well, as the Mariners averaged 78.0 points in four tournament games en route to the Class D state title, 80.4 points per game counting the team’s preliminary-round victory that preceded its stay at the Bangor Auditorium.

“You’ve got to trust your players,” said Billings. “Practice is when you do the majority of your teaching and coaching, and once you get the kids on the floor you’ve got to let them go a little, because at times they’ll amaze you.”

Rather than rely on the 3-point arc as a primary source of offense, the Mariners found success through crisp passing designed to generate high-quality shots.

“We’ve seen with the 3-point shot that a lot of people tend to use it as a first option and not a second option,” said Billings. “Our philosophy is to work the ball to the basket first, because if you move the ball well enough you’ll get a high-percentage shot or you’ll get to the foul line and get the other team in foul trouble.”

Deer Isle-Stonington attacked the basket against a taller Gould Academy of Bethel front line in the state final, luring the Huskies into foul trouble and then capitalizing on the opportunities that presented themselves.

“We’ve played that way all along, and Saturday we went 23 for 26 on free throws,” Billings said. “That’s seven 3-pointers right there.”

Not that the Mariners ignored the 3-point shot. In fact, the team made it a slightly more prominent part of its offense this year after some opposing teams ignored defending Deer Isle-Stonington that far away from the basket last winter because of the team’s reluctance to shoot from beyond the arc

“There is a fine line there,” said Billings. “If you don’t shoot it teams will pack in their zones, and that makes it tough to get the ball down on the block, so you have to show you can make it.”