AUGUSTA — Bangor’s Zach Blodgett has made a habit of getting big rebounds and scoring this season.
He saved his biggest play with the Class A boys’ basketball state championship game on the line.
Videos
Additional Photos
With the Rams trailing by a point with a little over two minutes left, Blodgett rebounded a missed free throw by teammate Pat Stewart and scored to give the Rams a lead they didn’t relinquish.
Bangor, behind point guard Luke Hettermann’s foul shooting in the final minute and a half, pulled away to beat the Stags 58-49 for the title Saturday night at the Augusta Civic Center.
The Rams (21-1) captured their first Gold Ball since 2007 and 12th overall. They also avenged a loss to the Stags (21-1) in the 2008 final.
Bangor outscored Cheverus 27-15 in the fourth quarter, with Hetterman going 11 of 14 from the free-throw line. He scored a season-high 16 points to lead the Rams.
“Luke was good tonight,” said Bangor Coach Roger Reed. “He’s got the moxie to play with the bigger guys. Luke’s got a big heart and he plays hard.
“I thought we gutted it out against a very good team.”
Trailing early in the fourth quarter, Bangor refused to quit. Cheverus Coach Bob Brown called it a game of runs and “Bangor got the run at the right time.
“We were up by six points and then I looked up and we led by only one,” said Brown. “Bangor made a couple of good plays. We missed from the line, missed some shots from the floor and didn’t check out.
“You can’t make those mistakes in 32 minutes.”
Tristan Thomas got the Rams rolling with five straight points with just over three minutes left on a basket and a 3-pointer. That cut Cheverus’ lead to 39-38.
Thomas picked up his fourth foul moments later and fouled out with 1:25 left.
“When Tristan fouled out, we had to keep it going,” said Blodgett. “We had to crash the boards.”
After Thomas’ 3-pointer, Louie DiStasio hit two from the line for Cheverus to make it 41-38.
After Blodgett responded with two foul shots to make it a one-point game, Griffin Brady scored two of his 21 points to give the Stags a 43-40 with 2:25 left.
Stewart then scored while being fouled. He missed the free throw, but Blodgett grabbed the rebound and scored.
“That’s where I look to get my points,” said Blodgett, who finished with 12 points. “I’ve been doing that all year. This team has a lot of heart.”
A big key for the Rams was handling Cheverus’ defensive pressure.
“We knew we had to take care of the ball,” said Reed. “Cheverus gets a lot of their offense off their defense. We had to prevent that from happening.”
Hettermann was solid against the Stags’ pressure.
“Their point guard was better than I thought,” said Brown, who watched Bangor play in the Eastern Maine final against Edward Little. “He had a nice game. I’m not sure we got any points from him on turnovers. We didn’t execute the way we should have.”
Brady gave the Stags a lift when they needed it. After a slow first quarter in which Bangor led 9-3, Cheverus outscored the Rams 17-12 in the second to pull within 21-20 at halftime. Brady scored 10 in the quarter.
Staff Writer Tom Chard can be contacted at 791-6419 or at: tchard@pressherald.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.