AUGUSTA – Who among the crowd at the Augusta Civic Center didn’t write off the Camden Hills boys basketball team in the second quarter of Saturday night’s Class B state championship game?

It would have been easy – and understandable. After all, Western Maine champ Gorham had a 13-point lead at one point. The Rams were working the ball inside successfully. They were making free throws and seemed on a roll after coming back from an eight-point Camden lead.

But no matter how loud the Gorham crowd got, and no matter how much the Rams wanted to defend their 2000 state crown, the Windjammers didn’t give up.

Camden Hills outscored Gorham 38-11 in the final 12 minutes of the contest, including an Abe Dugal 3-pointer that put the ‘Jammers up for good, and held off the Rams for a 76-62 triumph and the program’s third gold ball.

“We told them at the half, they just needed to believe and keep doing the things we had prepared to do to be here,” Camden coach Jeff Hart said. “They’ve just got an awful lot of character. They’re amazing. You’ve got to have great senior leadership and we had it this year.”

That certainly includes 6-foot-5 center John Knutson, the Eastern Maine tourney MVP who led the Windjammers with 22 points and eight rebounds.

Dugal had four points in the final four minutes of the third quarter as the Rams clung to a 51-46 lead. Six different Camden Hills players scored at least two points apiece as the Windjammers mounted their fourth-quarter comeback.

Gorham was up 60-55 in the fourth when Camden’s Tyler Warren drained a 3-pointer with 4:45 left. After Ram forward Kendrick Ballantyne hit a jumper for his 18th (and final) point, Dugal made two free throws to get the ‘Jammers within two again. Brian Fitzpatrick (12 points, six rebounds, three blocks) hit a jump shot to tie it up with 2:51 left.

Thirty-eight seconds later, Dugal found himself open just left of the top of the key and beyond the arc.

“I got the opening and I decided to take it. We weren’t making many, but I figured it would be a big turning point in the game if I could hit it. It went in, luckily,” he said.

Indeed, the ‘Jammers grabbed the lead for good, and Dugal’s shot sparked Camden.

“We were down and then all of the sudden to have the lead by three? It was huge,” Knutson said. “It was a total momentum swing and we had it from there on out.”

Camden’s Nick Wilson stole the ball on Gorham’s next possession and passed it to Dugal for another basket and a five-point lead. The Rams became frenzied, turning the ball over and fouling. The Windjammers made nine free throws in the final 1:25 to seal the win.

“It’s like we had several opportunities that we couldn’t quite get over the hump when we had the game on a string, I thought,” Gorham coach Kevin Jenkins said. “A couple things happened where we had a lead … and we couldn’t convert them. To their credit, they made big shots when they needed to make them.”

The Windjammer bench contributed 25 points, keyed by 14 from Dugal, who also had five rebounds and three steals.

Gorham’s Andy Jenkins led all scorers with 24 points. Joel Kerschner chipped in with 11.

Camden had been up 21-13 after the first quarter, but the 6-4 Ballantyne tossed in nine points in the second quarter as the Rams took a four-point advantage into halftime.

Gorham’s surge coincided with a Camden’s inability to get the ball inside to Knutson. He scored only two points in the second quarter after getting eight in the first, and he scored three baskets in the third quarter.

Ballantyne picked up his third and fourth fouls in the fourth quarter, making it somewhat easier for Knutson inside.

“We worked the ball inside a lot and I think at one point we started a full-court press and that’s where the big turnaround was, I believe,” Knutson said. “We got a couple of easy buckets and we got their big guy in foul trouble, and we pretty much took over from there.”

The Camden boys were wearing a strip of black tape on their uniforms in memory of James Johnson of Lincolnville, a Camden Hills junior who died Wednesday.

Windjammers 76, Rams 62

Camden Hills (20-2) Gorham boys (20-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

Wilson 3 9 2 4 8 Beaudoin 0 0 0

Dugal 4 10 5 6 14 Jenkins 10 16 3 24

May 0 0 0 0 0 Kerschner 5 9 11

Gabriele 0 0 0 0 0 Clark 0 0 0

Moro 2 4 0 0 5 Willis 0 1 0 0

Wood 0 0 2 4 2 Burnheimer 0 0 0

Fitzpatrick 5 11 0 0 12 Ballantyne 7 17 3 4 18

Warren 2 10 4 4 9 Griffin 0 0 0 0

Smith 0 0 0 0 0 Auger 0 0 0 0

O?Brien 0 0 0 0 0 Rand 0 0 0 0

Stammen 0 0 0 0 0 Thayer 0 0 0 0

Dennen 1 1 0 0 2 Nealey 4 9 1 9

Lippman 0 2 0 0 0

Knutson 7 18 6 8 22

McIntyre 1 1 0 0 2

Totals 25 66 19 26 76 26 52 8 15 62

Camden Hills 21 34 46 76

Gorham 13 38 51 62

3-pt. goals: Camden Hills (7-20): Knutson 2-5, Fitzpatrick 2-5, Dugal 1-2, Moro 1-2, Warren 1-4, Wilson 0-2; Gorham (2-5): Jenkins 1-2, Ballantyne 1-2, Kerschner 0-1