Cape Elizabeth boys hold on for dear life at Freeport

Cape Elizabeth senior Nate Mullen tosses up a shot during Thursday’s 52-49 win at Freeport.

BOX SCORE

Cape Elizabeth 52 Freeport 49

CE- 19 13 7 13- 52
F- 8 8 20 13- 49

CE- Swift 5-0-14, Lombardo 4-0-10, Dell’Aquila 3-0-9, Mullen 2-3-7, Bowe 2-1-6, Reeves 1-0-3, Cloutier 0-2-2, Thornton 0-1-1

F- Thomas 5-4-14, Arsenault 4-1-12, Cockburn 4-0-9, T. Casale 3-2-8, Benedict 2-0-4, Strong 1-0-2

3-pointers:
CE (11) Swift 4, Dell’Aquila 3, Lombardo 2, Bowe, Reeves 1
F (4) Arsenault 3, Cockburn 1

Turnovers:
CE- 7
F- 6

FTs
CE: 7-10
F: 7-11

FREEPORT—Cape Elizabeth’s boys’ basketball team had to dig deep into its big game experience reservoir Thursday evening when a seemingly easy victory turned into a down-to-the-wire thriller at valiant Freeport.

But when it mattered most, the Capers made the winning plays.

Cape Elizabeth put on a 3-point shooting exhibition in the first quarter, making five, and riding a 14-0 run to a 19-8 lead.

When senior Dylan Swift knocked down two more 3s, including one from NBA-range, and sophomore Antonio Dell’Aquila banked in a long 3 of his own, the visitors opened up an 18-point advantage and appeared home free, eventually taking a 32-16 lead to the half.

But nobody shoots like that for 32 minutes and the Falcons came out on fire in the third quarter and behind 10 points from senior big man Elias Thomas, pulled within just three, 39-36, after a couple late 3-pointers from junior Colby Arsenault.

The fourth period was tight throughout, as Freeport finally caught up at 42-42, on a layup from Thomas, but Swift hit a 3 to put the Capers back in the lead.

With 1:18 to go, the Falcons took just their second lead of the game, 49-48, on a basket from junior Blaine Cockburn, but eight seconds later, Cape Elizabeth senior Nate Mullen, who has played a critical role in several unforgettable postseason contests, was fouled and sank both attempts to put the Capers back ahead to stay.

Senior Chris Cloutier added two clutch foul shots with 5.5 seconds remaining and when Freeport senior Cam Strong’s 3-pointer at the horn just missed, Cape Elizabeth survived, 52-49.

Swift finished with 14 points, the Capers sank 11 3-pointers and improved to 5-3 on the season, while dropping the Falcons to 3-5 in the process.

“Basketball’s a game of runs and we executed at the end and didn’t turn the ball over and came out with the win,” said Cape Elizabeth’s first-year coach Jeff Mitchell.

Shooting lights out

Freeport opened with a pair of wins over Brunswick, 66-43 at home and 47-44 at the Dragons, then dropped close games against visiting Mt. Ararat (41-40) and host Cape Elizabeth (44-40). After a 57-35 home loss to Yarmouth, the Falcons lost at the Clippers, 43-26, before getting back in the win column Tuesday with a 58-52 win at Mt. Ararat.

Cape Elizabeth started by splitting a pair of games against Waynflete, falling at the Flyers, 51-46, then winning at home, 44-40. After a 48-41 home loss to Deering, the Capers beat visiting Freeport (44-40) and Greely (56-50, in overtime), then lost at Greely (70-60) before beating host Westbrook Monday, 65-47.

In the teams’ first meeting Feb. 19, sophomore Evan Reeves paced Cape Elizabeth with 17 points and Cockburn had a team-high 15 points for Freeport.

Thursday, the Falcons hoped to beat Cape Elizabeth for the first time in over 13 years, since a 53-51 home victory Dec. 18, 2007, but instead the Capers made it 17 straight in the series.

Just barely.

Prior to the contest, Strong and his family were honored in a mini-Senior Night ceremony. Strong’s family then got to watch the game from a room overlooking the gym and would have a bird’s-eye view of the biggest play of the game.

Cape Elizabeth came out sizzling, setting the tone just 25 seconds in when sophomore Sam Lombardo knocked down a 3-point shot.

Freeport answered, as Cockburn banked home a runner with his left hand, then sank a 3 for a 5-3 lead, but that would be the Falcons’ last advantage for a long, long time.

With 4:49 to go in the first quarter, junior Will Bowe drained a 3-ball to put the Capers ahead and the fun was just beginning.

Reeves, who is usually most at home in the paint, came out and made a 3, then Lombardo hit another before he scored on a putback.

Then, with 1:42 to go in the opening stanza, Swift made his first 3 to cap a 14-0 run and produce a 17-5 lead.

With 35.6 seconds left in the frame, Arsenault made a 3-pointer to end a 5-minute, 22-second drought, but Mullen drove for a layup and Cape Elizabeth was on top, thanks in large part to five 3-pointers, 19-8, after eight minutes.

The second period was more of the same.

Swift started the quarter with a 3, then unleashed a bid from at least 25 feet away which found nothing but net for a 25-8 lead.

“I was missing, but Dylan Swift and Will Bowe were hitting,” Mullen said. “We usually come out hot.”

“The last couple of games, we’ve really focused on getting out in transition and attacking and getting open looks,” Mitchell said. “We did it against Westbrook too. We’re scoring more points and it’s a style the guys love to play.”

The Falcons were at a loss.

“(Cape Elizabeth) played all zone against us the first time and we prepared for that, then they came out with an aggressive man-to-man defense and threw in a 1-3-1 (zone) that rattled us and they shot lights out,” said Freeport coach Bill Ridge. “They even banked one in. A couple times, I thought we fouled them and they still drained them. It was uncanny. We came out of our zone pretty quickly. We haven’t been the strongest man-to-man defensive team, but we had to be tonight because the zone wasn’t cutting it. The way to beat a zone is to shoot it and they shot it.”

Thomas answered with two free throws for his first points, but Swift made a jump shot.

After senior Caden Benedict made a short leaner for Freeport, Dell’Aquila banked home a 3 and the Capers had a 30-12 advantage and threatened to run away and hide.

But they couldn’t do so.

Strong made a leaner for the hosts and after Mullen fed Lombardo for a layup, a short fadeaway jumper from Falcons junior Tony Casale made the score 32-16 at halftime.

In the first half of action, Swift (11 points) and Lombardo (10) led the way for a Cape Elizabeth team which shot 8-of-12 from behind the arc.

But games are more than just one half and in the second half, it would be Freeport’s turn to strut its stuff and make things very interesting.

Just 12 seconds into the third period, Arsenault set up Benedict for a layup and the next time down the floor, Strong fed Thomas for a layup to cut the deficit to 32-20.

Mullen answered with a layup after a nice spin move, but Strong again found Thomas for a layup.

Senior Will Thornton, who battled foul trouble much of the game, made a free throw for the Capers, but off an inbounds set, Strong again fed Thomas for a layup.

“It was a great effort from Elias tonight,” Ridge said. “He’s a big, strong kid and when he plays within himself he can get some easy buckets. He controlled the boards. He was physical. He did a great job.”

Mullen made a free throw, but Thomas countered with a pair and the lead was down to 10, 36-26.

Bowe then came up big with an old-fashioned three-point play (putback, foul, free throw), but Arsenault found Thomas for another layup, Cockburn threaded the needle with a pretty pass to Arsenault for a layup, then Arsenault sank consecutive 3s and just like that, Freeport only trailed by three points, 39-36, heading for the fourth period.

Where the hosts would complete their comeback, but they weren’t able to finish it off with a victory.

Cape Elizabeth began the fourth quarter like they did the first and second, by getting a clutch 3, this time from Dell’Aquila.

Again, the Falcons answered, as Casale banked home a runner, then Casale took a feed from Cockburn and made a layup before Arsenault fed Thomas for a layup with 6:04 to play, which tied the score, 42-42.

Swift answered with a clutch 3 from the corner seven seconds later to put the Capers back in the lead.

After Cockburn countered with a baseline floater, Dell’Aquila drained another clutch 3 to make it 48-44 with 4:32 on the clock.

But Freeport had one final surge left.

After Arsenault made the first of two foul shots with 3:47 to play, Casale drained both attempts 23 seconds later.

After some near-misses, the Falcons then regained the lead with 1:18 left, as Cockburn put home his own miss, giving Freeport its first advantage since 5-3.

But it lasted barely eight seconds.

With 1:10 remaining, Mullen was fouled and calmly sank both free throw attempts to finally put Cape Elizabeth on top to stay.

“I wasn’t too nervous,” Mullen said. “I just wanted to make them and help my team out.”

The Falcons had a great chance to answer when Thomas was fouled with 39.1 seconds left, as Thornton fouled out in the process, but Thomas missed the front end of a one-and-one.

Dell’Aquila went to the line with 16.8 seconds showing with a chance to give the Capers some breathing room, but he too missed the front end of a one-and-one, Thomas got the rebound and Freeport had a chance to win it.

After a timeout, the ball came to Arsenault, who had a good look, but he couldn’t knock down a jumper.

Cloutier got the rebound and was fouled with 5.5 seconds to play.

The unflustered Cloutier swished the front end of the one-and-one, then did the same with the second shot to extend the lead to three.

“I made the second most important free throws of the game because Chris did a great job extending the lead from one (point) to three,” said Mullen.

The Falcons, who had taken a timeout prior to the second free throw, would get a chance to force overtime.

The ball was inbounded to Cockburn, who passed ahead to Strong on the right baseline. With time winding down, Strong caught the ball just behind the 3-point arc and with his family looking down, launched a shot that if Hollywood was writing the script, would have found its mark to force overtime, but instead, it was just long and bounced off the back rim.

“We’d called a timeout to set up a play off a miss or make,” Ridge said. “We just told everyone we’d get the ball to Blaine and to turn and sprint and spot up where you want and Cam did a good job finding a spot. Blaine found him and it was a decent look. Unfortunately, it didn’t go.”

“We knew they’d get a shot off, so we tried to step up our pressure to use up some of the clock,” Mitchell said. “They got a look, but the ball didn’t bounce their way. Lucky for us.”

Cape Elizabeth 52 Freeport 49. Final.

“I thought we’d have an easy win the way we were shooting in the first half,” Mullen said. “We lost the lead, but we were able to come out with a win. We did a great job communicating on defense. (Freeport) ran some screens and we had clean switches. Great execution.”

“They definitely transitioned into a defense that stopped us in the second half, but our seniors came up big and sealed the win for us,” said Mitchell.

The Capers were led by 14 points from Swift. Lombardo also wound up in double figures with 10 points (as well as four rebounds and three assists). Dell’Aqula scored nine points off the bench, Bowe had six points, Reeves three and Cloutier two.

Cape Elizabeth made 11 3-pointers to Freeport’s four, hit 7-of-10 free throws and amazingly, only turned the ball over seven times despite protecting a lead most of the night.

For Freeport, Thomas had a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds. Arsenault added 12 points, six rebounds and four assists. Cockburn wound up with nine points, six rebounds and four assists. Casale added eight points, Benedict had four and Strong two (to go with three assists).

The Falcons took tremendous care of the ball as well, only committing six turnovers, and made 7-of-11 foul shots.

“Credit to Cape to close it out,” said Ridge. “We came all the way back and took the lead, but they stayed focused and determined. We got some looks we wanted at the end, but they didn’t go. We take a ton out of this game. This was, no question about it, the best half of basketball we’ve played all year. We executed on offense. We were focused on defense. We did the little things.”

Final chapter

The Falcons close with two games next week against Gray-New Gloucester, Tuesday in Gray and Thursday at home.

“We want to finish strong and take two from Gray,” Ridge said. “That’s our goal.”

The Capers close with four games in eight days, as they host Yarmouth Saturday, visit the Clippers next Tuesday, then welcome Lake Region March 12 and finish with a newly scheduled home game against Class AA South power South Portland March 13.

“My goal was to win a state title, but I’m just thankful to be playing,” Mullen said. “We’re just trying to come out with the best record we can have. I’m psyched we got the South Portland game.”

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of these kids,” Mitchell said. “They don’t complain and they come to every game like we’ve got playoffs in our future. All but probably one game has been close. It’s more fun that way. That’s good for the underclassmen to feel the pressure and get used to it. We can build off that. For us, it’s about rate of change. Are we getting better every game, every practice? Our slope is good right now. These kids are up for it.”