BANGOR – With 5.8 seconds left on the clock, the Waterville Purple Panthers had the ball, a tie game, and control of their own destiny in their quest for a major Class A win at Red Barry Gym.

The worst thing that could have happened to Waterville was a missed shot at the buzzer and overtime.

Make that the second-worst thing.

In a 4.3-second span, a textbook Waterville upset bid turned into a coach’s nightmare and a 46-45 Bangor schoolboy basketball win.

The Rams improved to 8-1, while the Panthers dropped to 2-7.

As it turned out, the worst thing that could have happened was Jason St. Pierre.

The senior guard darted in front of Lucas Provost, stole the pass from Ian Gould, and dished to Tommy Waterman on the fast break to set up the game-winner.

Waterman was fouled by Provost, missed one shot, then nailed the second with 1.5 seconds left.

Jake Civiello intercepted the ensuing inbounds pass to clinch it.

Waterville coach Ken Lindlof said that as a coach, he was planning for any eventuality. But the steal wasn’t something on his list.

“You’d think that we’re either going to get the last shot for a chance to win, or it’s going to overtime. St. Pierre had to spoil our party for us,” Lindlof said.

St. Pierre said Bangor coach Roger Reed told the players not to foul on the play.

“Coach just told us to play good hard-nosed defense. My man ran to the ball and it was just instinct,” St. Pierre said.

“I was gonna dunk it, personally. But then I saw the guy cut in front of me and I didn’t want him to take a charge, so I dumped it off [to Waterman],” he said.

Waterman said he was surprised the Panthers didn’t inbound the ball into the backcourt from the sideline, as Bangor wasn’t contesting that pass.

“They tried to force something into a crowd and Jason was in the right spot and came up with the steal,” Waterman said.

Junior Mike Arsenault paced the Rams with a game-high 18 points and grabbed six rebounds, five on the offensive glass. St. Pierre finished with 10 points.

Juniors Provost and Gavin Smith tossed in 15 points each for the Panthers. Point guard Ian Gould dished out seven assists.

The Panthers stuck with the Rams with some torrid early shooting and a deliberate second half.

Waterville drilled four of six 3-pointers in the opening quarter to jump out to a 16-10 lead. But Bangor responded by switching out of its 3-2 zone and unleashing a halfcourt run-and-jump defensive scheme in the second quarter that held the Panthers scoreless for more than four minutes just before halftime.

Meanwhile, the Rams were nipping away at a deficit that had bulged to 23-15.

“I don’t really think they’re a strong outside shooting team, but they hit those shots, so we decided to come out of the zone,” Bangor’s Reed said.

The run-and-jump provided the impetus the Rams needed.

Rams 46, Purple Panthers 45

Waterville (2-7) Bangor boys (8-1)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Weiser 0 2 0 0 0 Waterman 1 7 3 4 5

McNinch 1 3 1 4 4 St. Pierre 3 6 4 6 10

Fellows 1 1 0 0 2 Moses 1 1 0 0 2

DeGuzman 0 0 0 0 0 Wilcox 1 2 0 0 2

Donato 0 0 0 0 0 Civiello 2 4 3 4 7

Corson 4 12 0 1 9 Arsenault 8 15 1 2 18

Gould 0 0 0 0 0 Pitula 1 3 0 0 2

Smith 6 12 2 2 15

Provost 6 7 0 0 15

Flood 0 1 0 0 0

Totals 18 38 3 7 45 Totals 17 38 11 16 46

Waterville 16 23 36 45

Bangor 10 26 38 46

3-pt. goals: Waterville (6-12): McNinch 1-3, Corson 1-4, Smith 1-1, Provost 3-4; Bangor (1-6): Arsenault 1-4, Pitula 0-2

Attendance: 500

Preliminary: Bangor 59, Waterville 36