Panther boys stop Bobcats again
win state title & bring home gold
Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg
CHAMPIONS AGAIN — Central Aroostook Panthers basketball players, including, from left, Mike McClung (34), Tyler Rusby (21), Logan McLaughlin, Sam Bennett (25) and Daniel Brewer, celebrate Saturday’s 40-37 victory over Richmond in the Class D boys state title game played at the Bangor Auditorium. For the Panthers, it was their fourth state championship since 2005.
By Kevin Sjoberg
BANGOR — There was nothing fancy about Central Aroostook’s win over Richmond in Saturday’s Class D state championship basketball game.
There were minimal fast break opportunities, only one major scoring run and no successful three-point field goals. Instead, the Panthers went with what they have depended upon all season – aggressive man-to-man defense – and turned it into a 40-37 triumph for the team’s sixth state title since 1994 and fourth in the last seven years.
Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg
MIKE MCCLUNG of the Central Aroostook Panthers displays the net during post-game festivities at Saturday’s state game. CA beat Richmond, 40-37.
The victim in the two previous state games was Richmond, both in 2006 and 2008, and that was the case again this year. The Panthers did it by winning the lowest scoring Class D final since Buckfield’s 39-36 win over Machias in 1992.
“This year, we struggled in some games,” said senior guard Logan McLaughlin, “but heart, intensity and a desire to win has pulled us through all year and that’s what makes our program successful. Everyone has that drive.”
“They had good defense, but ours was better,” said Panther junior center Mike McClung. “Each of our starters and Steven [Decker] off the bench gets out and plays extremely hard D.”
Central Aroostook proved that, especially in the early going. The Panthers held the Bobcats to just three first-quarter points, but CA had a hard time offensively as well against Richmond’s man-to-man set and didn’t make its first field goal until just 51 seconds remained in the period and ended it with a 7-3 edge.
Staff photos/Joseph Cyr
Central Aroostook senior forward Caleb Kelly (22) takes the ball in for a reverse layup against Richmond’s Wade Tuttle to end the first period.
Richmond scored the first three points of the second quarter, all coming within the first 45 seconds, but Central Aroostook seized control with an 18-2 scoring spree. Eight of those points came from the foul line, but a tip-in by McClung, two strong drives to the basket by Caleb Kelly, a steal and layup by McLaughlin and a nice pass from McClung to a cutting Brendan York underneath were also part of the rally that helped CA to a 25-10 lead at intermission.
“I thought we had it, with the lead we had and their point guard in foul trouble,” York said, “but they came back.”
Staff photos/Joseph Cyr
Panther junior guard Daniel Brewer, left, plays tough defense against Bobcat point guard Michael Christie.
The Bobcats, who had lost senior guard Michael Christie with 2:10 left in the first quarter after he picked up his third foul, brought him back to begin the third and he made an immediate impact. He scored five of his team’s first six points, including a three-pointer.
The Bobcats picked up some additional momentum due in part to a technical foul called on Kelly for celebrating after being fouled on a defensive rebound with 38 seconds left in the third quarter. Christie hit the two ensuing free throws and then scored on a driving layup 12 seconds later. Richmond scored five more unanswered points, capped by a Christie free throw 1:33 into the final period, to get to within eight at 35-27.
Staff photo/Joseph Cyr
BIG MAN MATCHUP — Mike McClung wins the opening tip-off against Richmond’s Kyle O’Brien in Saturday’s state championship game at the Bangor Auditorium. McClung and the Panthers went on to a 40-37 victory.
Kelly and York came back with a field goal each to make it a 12-point game with 4:11 left, but CA did not connect on another field goal the remainder of the game and Richmond was able to put together another late surge by taking advantage of the scoring drought, which occurred thanks to seven Panther fourth-quarter turnovers.
The Western Maine champs scored eight points in succession and a putback by Thomas Carter with 37 seconds left made it 40-37 and a potential game-tying three-pointer by Christie with five seconds left was off the mark.
After CA’s Dan Brewer misfired on a foul shot with 2.4 seconds to go, a long heave from the opposite foul line by Richmond 6-5 center Kyle O’Brien rattled off the backboard to end the game as the Panthers survived.
“As a player, you can definitely feel the momentum change,” Dan Brewer said. “We worked through it. We kept fighting and clawing and didn’t give up.”
“We got a little tired but in the end, held it together enough to persevere and win,” said Panther coach Tim Brewer. “It was a physical game, but our defense won it for us.”
The space McClung had to work with during the Eastern Maine tournament never materialized against the physical Richmond team. The 6-5 junior managed just three field goals the entire game and never got into an offensive rhythm.
“They had big guys that were tough and gave Mike a lot of trouble, which was disruptive to our game because we rely on him so much inside,” Dan Brewer said.
“[O’Brien] was physical inside and that was a change because I’ve never played against anyone like that,” McClung said.
Kelly picked up some of the slack with 14 points, while McClung finished with nine and York had eight and McLaughlin seven. The offensive attack proved to be enough to keep CA undefeated in state championship games and put to an end a two-year streak of the Panthers not advancing at least into an EM final. Last year, the Panthers were eliminated in the quarterfinals and the year before that, in the semifinal round.
“It feels great,” McClung said. “It was upsetting to us losing my freshman and sophomore years, but those losses are what drove us.”
