Each year, as we get closer to tourney time, we eagerly anticipate what might be. The canvas is blank for another year, awaiting what masterpiece could be painted by the teams beneath the bright lights. Who will step up and make the clutch shots? Which unheralded player will shine on the grandest stage? What team will shock the region and accomplish the unfathomable? When the week is over, what memories will we hold on to for years to come?
Regardless of year, tourney time is always enjoyable for those of us who venture to the various arenas where games are held throughout the Pine Tree State. I’ve always maintained, a bad day at the tournament beats a good day almost anywhere else. Still, some years deliver longer highlight reels in the ole gray matter more than others.
Tourney 2020 featured anything and everything you could ask for in Maine’s greatest sporting event. We began the journey on Valentines Day with a near monumental comeback and concluded on the final days of February with gold ball games, which will be talked about for years to come. The wisdom of consensus was turned upon its proverbial head on more than one occasion.
I had the opportunity to attend all 42 games of the Northern Maine Class B, C, and D basketball tournament at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor as well as state championship games in those classes. While there was great basketball played throughout the state during February school vacation week, I’ll be focusing on the games I attended.
Game one of tourney 2020 featured a couple of perennial class B girls strongholds with Presque Isle taking on Winslow. PI was draining three-pointers throughout every nook and cranny of the Cross Insurance Center into the third quarter, building a 21 point lead. Game’s over, right? Someone forgot to tell the orange and black clad Black Raiders as they closed the deficit to one in the late going before the Wildcats escaped by hitting free throws down the stretch in their 53-46 victory.
Survive and advance. That was the mantra of the top-seeded Hermon Hawks girls basketball team during Tourney 2020. Oh, and the old adage that defense wins championships, but we’ll get to that later. In their quarterfinal game against ninth-seeded John Bapst, a team they had beaten twice during the regular season, the Hawks needed the clutch shooting of an unlikely heroine. With a seven-point lead evaporated and trailing by three in the final seconds, senior captain Paige Plissey tracked down a rebound off a missed three-pointer from the left wing. She then kicked it out to an open Charlotte Caron, who drained the clutch three, forcing overtime. It was Hermon’s only successful three-point attempt of the game. The Hawks held the underdog Crusaders scoreless in overtime for the 42-34 victory.
A game MDI team gave Caribou their toughest battle of the regional tournament before falling 61-48 in their quarterfinal match-up. The MDI boys were able rally in their prelim victory versus Mt. View, to ensure we would hear the band’s rendition of “Jesus Christ Superstar” at least once during Tourney 2020, my all-time favorite tournament tradition. The Vikings would roll from there to their second straight regional final.
The class B boys tournament may be best remembered for what might have been. Caribou’s only loss of the season came at the hands of Hermon mid-January. The absence of Hawks stand-out senior Isaac Varney left many in attendance wondering what might have happened in a rematch that never occurred.
Interesting storylines abound during each tournament. That distinction this year could certainly belong to the Wisdom girls. The Pioneers from St. Agatha, by the way it’s pronounced St. ah gat (emphasis on the second syllable), featured only seven players, five of whom were eighth-graders or freshmen. Eighth-grader Lily Roy sparked the club with clutch shooting and exquisite ball-handling to keep them in the game before falling to Shead 39-34.
Speaking of youth, the D girls tournament featured squads with solid nuclei returning for the 2020-21 season. Notably, are the regional champions from Southern Aroostook, who return everyone from their roster minus their senior caption and thousand point scorer, Makaelyn Porter.
Buzzer-beaters were the story for the boys and girls contingents from Dexter in the Class C tournament. Peyton Grant in their quarterfinal game versus Narraguagus nailed a three for the win, which bounced on virtually every piece of real estate on the rim before falling through the net. While Grant had played a prominent role in the box scores for three years on the girls team, a more unlikely sharp shooter came up huge when it mattered most. Parker Ponte knocked down a three from the left wing in their semi-final contest vs. Fort Kent, propelling the Tiger to the regional final, where they would face Central Aroostook. Ponte, on that side of the floor but further down towards the baseline, with his team down one, nailed his second game winner in as many nights.
Of course the major story line of that night was…did the shot get off in time or didn’t it? We can argue ad nauseum whether we should have instant replay in Maine high school basketball. We’ll leave that discussion for another day. The bottom line is…the rules we have in place right now do not allow for video instant replay. I would defy anyone without bias, watching in real time, to be able to definitively say Ponte’s basket should not have counted. By rule in this situation, on a made basket at the buzzer, when in doubt, the basket counts.
The upset of the tournament has to belong to the Machias boys. The Bulldogs, facing rival Jonesport-Beals in their semi-final contest, lost to the Royals twice during the regular season by margins of 31 and 36 points. Machias started three sophomores and two freshmen. Conversely, the veteran Royals, who had made appearances in the 2018 and 2019 regional finals, countered by starting four seniors and a junior. Not only did Machias upset Jonesport-Beals but the game wasn’t close, winning 79-60 en route to their regional championship.
The consensus amongst observers of Northern Maine girls class C basketball was that Stearns and Calais were a notch above the rest of the field. Due to schedule issues, during the final weeks of the regular season, it appeared these teams might meet in the semifinal round rather than the regional final. What a shame, many believed that the two best teams wouldn’t battle it out in primetime on Saturday night.
Leading up to their anticipated match-up in Friday’s semifinal, many believed the Dexter-Central Aroostook game was in a sense the junior varsity contest before the varsity game. After all, this was a Central Aroostook team which was the top seed a year ago only to be dumped by ninth-seeded Stearns by 25 points. Someone forgot to tell the upstart Panthers they didn’t belong on the same stage as the likes of Stearns, who happened to knock off Calais in the semi-final. Junior guard Maci Beals turned in what might perhaps be the performance of the tournament, as Central Aroostook played a near flawless game in taking home the title.
Speaking of consensus being wrong…while the Hermon girls were the number one seed, it was Waterville, which was considered a strong favorite to take home championship hardware. Hermon had looked, for lack of a better word “clunky” in their two tournament victories over John Bapst and Old Town. Waterville, on the other hand, was dominant in their two wins over Ellsworth and Presque Isle. So back to the old adage: defense wins championships. In a game I saw but still don’t believe, Hermon led Waterville 9-4 at halftime. No, Coach Bob Cimbollek didn’t come out of a twenty-year retirement sporting Hermon blue and gold. And no, neither team held the ball. Both teams were actually trying to score, trying being the operative word. In the end, it was Hermon playing for gold the following weekend.
While I didn’t see any of their tournament games, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the remarkable run by the Hampden boys basketball team in the Class ‘A’ tournament. In every game they had to come from behind to pull out victory. All three regional tournament games were decided by three points or less. Their run to gold was capped by a 23-1 second half spurt to rally past York in the state championship game.
The final day of February featured teams vying for the gold ball in Augusta and Portland. In Augusta, Greenville avenged a 25 point defeat at the hands of two-time defending state champion Southern Aroostook from a year ago to down the Warriors 42-38. The Lakers received an outstanding 23 point effort from senior post player Halle Pelletier. Greenville was successfully able to slow the Warriors down, taking away easy transition baskets, while Southern Aroostook has hampered by foul trouble throughout the title game.
Forest Hills and Machias might have offered a preview of next year’s gold ball game as both featured youthful rosters. Forest Hills rained three’s all day led by junior Parker Desjardins and freshman Mason Desjardins.
In the nightcap at Augusta, Central Aroostook overcame foul trouble and was sparked by Liberty Fulton, who missed the semifinals and finals in Bangor due to illness. Fulton hit a number of big shots in the second half to keep Winthrop’s rally at bay.
Winthrop was able to get a split on the evening as their boys were able to quell Dexter’s attempt for their first gold ball since 1986.
While Saturday’s action certainly offered plenty of memorable highlights, nothing could have possibly exceeded what we witnessed in Bangor on Friday, February 28th. The Wells girls knocked off Hermon in overtime 34-26 in a defensive struggle, holding the Northern Maine Champions scoreless in the extra session. In the boys ‘B’ championship game, Caribou outlasted Maranacook 73-71 in double overtime. It’s a game that will likely be talked about in the annals of tournament history for years to come. Maranacook rallied from a seven point deficit in the final minute of regulation to force overtime. On the final play of the game, in the second overtime period, Caribou’s Parker Deprey drove the right side of the floor and found his brother Sawyer streaking down the opposite side. Parker fed Sawyer a beautiful lob pass, which was led in at the buzzer, sending the Caribou faithful into a frenzy.
Oh, how life has changed drastically in the last few weeks. Hopefully, this look back will elicit a few smiles as we continue through most uncertain times.
