PORTLAND — After staggering through a little over 30 minutes of a mistake-filled defensive battle, the Cheverus and Bonny Eagle basketball teams decided to offer some excitement in the waning moments.
Thank goodness for that. It was a pretty boring regional final until then.
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Bonny Eagle hit two 3-pointers in the final 1:48, but Cheverus countered with clutch points of its own and held off the Scots to win its third Western Class A title in four seasons with a 30-27 win Monday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
“We did it ugly,” said Cheverus Coach Bob Brown. “I don’t think anyone played particularly well on offense. I coached a team (South Portland) that scored the most points in a tournament game. I might as well coach one that scored the lowest.”
Records weren’t readily available but this game ranked as one of the lowest scoring Western Class A boys’ regional finals in a long time.
“We’re 21-0 and the Western Maine champion,” said Brown.
Which means the Stags will get a chance to defend the state title they won a year ago when they meet the Eastern Maine champion Saturday night at the Augusta Civic Center.
Bangor and Edward Little play tonight in a game twice postponed because of weather.
On Monday night, two points were all the scoring Cheverus and Bonny Eagle managed in the fourth quarter until the Scots’ Steve Simonds hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie it at 24 with 1:48 left.
Louie DiStasio put the Stags back on top 26-24 with a clutch jumper. Bonny Eagle freshman sensation Dustin Cole drilled a 3 from the side with 1:19 left to give the Scots their only lead at 27-26.
Griffin Brady answered for Cheverus, hitting a 3-pointer from the corner with 51 seconds left. After a Cheverus timeout, Cole missed a 3-pointer, and in the scramble for the loose ball the Stags forced a jump ball and got possession because of the arrow.
Connor O’Neil made 1 of 2 from the line with 15.8 seconds left. The Stags had a foul to waste and did. The Scots got one last chance to tie it, but Simonds’ 3-pointer was blocked by Peter Gwilym. Simonds got the ball back but could only heave it. Levi Meggison of Bonny Eagle came down with it at the side of the basket, but the game was over.
The action at the end of the game offered a much-needed boost with so much on the line.
“It doesn’t matter how many points are scored. It only matters that your team has more points than the other team,” said DiStasio, who was named the winner of the George Vinall Trophy as tourney MVP. Regarding the low score, he said, “Both teams played tenacious defense.”
Assessing the hectic final few minutes, Simonds said: “They hit big ones after we did, which dulled our comeback.”
To the Stags’ credit, they showed their mettle at the end.
“Griffin hit a huge shot,” said DiStasio.
Bonny Eagle was 2 of 18 from 3-point range.
“That decided the game,” said Bonny Eagle Coach Phil Bourassa. “We didn’t hit our shots. I thought Simonds might have been fouled on the shot. I was standing right in front and it sounded like he got fouled, but that’s not why we lost. It was the type of game we wanted. No one expected us to be here.”
Cheverus led 8-4 after one quarter, 15-9 at halftime and 22-21 after three quarters. The Scots outscored Cheverus 12-7 in the third quarter.
“We made a lot of mistakes,” Brown said. “It wasn’t pretty.”
DiStasio led Cheverus with 11 points. Simonds led Bonny Eagle with eight.
Staff Writer Tom Chard can be contacted at 791-6419 or at:
tchard@pressherald.com
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