AUGUSTA- The Southern Aroostook Warriors built a 33 point lead, and then held off a rally by the Forest Hills Tigers on Saturday afternoon for an 82-61 victory in the Class D boys state championship game at the Augusta Civic Center.
Forest Hills took their only lead of the game at 7-6 on a three-pointer by Mason Desjardins early in the first quarter. Southern Aroostook then used a 22-7 run to end the opening eight minutes, capped off by a long three-pointer from three steps inside halfcourt by Hunter Burpee at the buzzer to take a 28-14 advantage. The Warriors finished off a 14-0 spurt by scoring the first 11 points of the second to make it 39-14. They shot 57.5% from the floor in the first half to take a 53-26 lead to the halftime break.
A three-pointer from Dylan Burpee early in the third quarter built the largest of the game at 61-28. Forest Hills though came charging back, ending the period on a 20-2 run capped off by a layup by Hiram Logston to slice it to 63-48 headed for the fourth. A basket from Desjardins for the first points of the final eight minutes cut the deficit to 13. That is as close as the Tigers would get however, as the Warriors got 10 more points from Hunter Burpee on their way to their first state championship since 1991.
The senior Hunter Burpee came up huge for Southern Aroostook (20-1) in the win with 31 points and 15 rebounds (17 points in the first half, 10 in the fourth quarter). Dylan Burpee had 17 points. Camden Porter chipped in 11 points, while Graham Siltz contributed eight points and eight rebounds. Desjardins had a game high 36 points in the loss for Forest Hills (five 3-pointers). Blaine Nadeau had nine points, and Cooper Daigle tallied eight points and 10 rebounds. The two time defending state champions finish at 21-1, and also had their 65 game MPA winning streak snapped.
SACS 28 25 10 19- 82
FHIL 14 12 22 13- 61
