BANGOR- The George Stevens Eagles, the undefeated and top seed in boys Class C, faced a tough and determined #2 seed in Fort Fairfield Saturday night. But in the end, the Eagles were just too much as they claimed their second straight Class C North Regional Title with a 59-45 win over the Tigers at the Cross Insurance Center.
Fort Fairfield took an early 8-2 lead in the first quarter, part of an 8-0 run after GSA had scored the first basket of the game. But the Eagles would fight to within 16-15 at the end of the first, helped by nine early points from point guard Tyler Schildroth.
The Eagles regained the lead early in the second quarter. But in a back and forth game, the Tigers took the lead again and had as much as a three point lead in the quarter, but GSA was able to tie the game heading into halftime 24-24.
The third quarter consisted of five lead changes, with the Tigers having as much as a three point lead and the Eagles with a two point edge. The third quarter ended as the second quarter did, all tied up, this time at 39-39.
Fort Fairfield took their last lead of the game early in the fourth quarter at 42-41, and from that point on it was all Eagles. GSA ended the game on a 18-3 run to head back to another state title game next Saturday.
Fort Fairfield ended their great run in the tournament with a record of 19-2. The Tigers were led by Isaac Cyr, who had 14 points and five rebounds. Chris Giberson added 10 points and four rebounds. Ryan Player also added eight points.
Schildroth led GSA with 26 points, two rebounds, two steals, and one assist. Stefan Simmons added 11 points. Jarrod Chase had 10 points . Max Mattson also chipped in eight points, five rebounds, and was huge in the paint defensively with seven blocked shots.
“The second half we picked up the defense and that was the key to the game”, said GSA head coach Dwayne Carter. When speaking of the play of center Max Mattson, Carter said,”That’s probably the best game he has played, defensively. He really bottled up the middle and altered alot of shots, and put a few shots into the crowd so that was really nice”. On being behind early in the game, Carter added,”We really hadn’t been behind, so that was a new experience for us. We maybe had been down 2-0 or something like that, but not eight or six or whatever it was. That was a good challenge for us. We played confident, but tentative and second guessing ourself in the first half”. On facing Winthrop next week for the state title, Carter said, “We know they are a good team, we know what they do, we know their players. But we will be ready”.
GSA (21-0) faces Winthrop for the Class B State title next Saturday night at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
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