BANGOR, Me- Justin Worden had 13 points Saturday and Gavin Gardner came up with a huge steal and foul shots late in the game, to help send the Woodland Dragons past the Jonesport-Beals Royals 40-37 in the Class D North regional final game at the Cross Insurance Center.
Woodland (18-3) began the game strong building an early 7-2 lead. Ryan Alley and Adam Robinson each had four points in the opening quarter though as the Royals took the lead 12-11. Worden had seven points in the opening eight minutes.
In a 13-13 game early in the second quarter, Jonesport-Beals put together an 8-0 run after Worden went to the bench with two fouls. Alley and Stephen Cirone both had three pointers during the run as the Royals had their biggest lead of the day 21-13. A last second three from Dragons guard Sabre Lee Phelps cut the lead to 21-16 at halftime.
An Isaiah Faulkingham bucket and one from Adam Robinson helped the Royals increase the lead back to seven at 25-18 early in the third quarter. A 9-2 Dragon run tied the game at 27. After Robinson got the lead back for the Royals with two free throws, Matthew Miller converted an unconventional three point play to give Woodland the lead 30-29 at the end of the third quarter. Woodland coach Ben Maloney said, “Just needed to keep the focus. There has been a few lulls in the three games we have had, where we went into halftime and seemed our body language was a little down. Justin (Worden) was in foul trouble, and his body language was down. They came out and got a good start in the third quarter, and we decided to step it up defensively and pull a little more ball pressure on, and it kinda turned it, we were able to get out and get scores. Our defense was phenomenal in second half. I don’t know what they scored in that second half, but I thought our defense was phenomenal”.
Woodland matched their biggest lead on a pair of baskets to open the fourth quarter to make it 34-29. A pair of baskets by Robinson sandwiched around a 1-2 trip to the foul line allowed the Royals to tie the game 34-34. The Dragons built it back to four late at 38-34, before a three point play by Kaiden Crowley cut it to 38-37. Worden missed a chance at the line when he missed the front end of a one and one with 37.8 seconds left. Gardner then came up with the key play of the game. Gardner made a steal with 10.5 seconds left, and then after a timeout was fouled on the ensuing inbounds. Gardner made both free throws in a one and one situation to give the Dragons a three point lead with 7.8 seconds left, but the Royals had one more chance. Alley had a good look at a three pointer, but his shot went off to the left and bounced off the back of the rim as the buzzer sounded, clinching the first regional title for Woodland since 2009. Gardner talked about the play, “I saw my man getting beat. He was playing good defense, but he is a fast guard and he got by him. I just reached in at right time to get the steal and get the turnover”. On the pressure of the free throws Gardner added, ” Yeah it was crazy, my mind was going crazy. Our coach though, we shot 300 plus free throws this past practice. I was able to bend my knees. Last game I airballed a free throw, and I was able to get it back in time for this big game”.
Jonesport-Beals ends their season at 16-4, and they were led by Robinson who had 16 points four rebounds. Alley added seven points and six rebounds, while Crowley also finished with seven.
Along with Worden, the Dragons got seven from Gardner, and also seven points from Phelps. Drew Hayward finished with six points, and Miller chipped in five. Woodland will play Greenville in the state title game next Saturday afternoon in Augusta at 2:45 p.m.
JPB 12 9 8 8- 37
WDL 11 5 14 10- 40
Three point goals: JPB- Alley Woodland- Gardner
Free throws: JPB- 7-9 Woodland 7-12
Turnovers: JPB 17 Woodland 12
