PORTLAND — Poise proved more fruitful than panic Wednesday night for the second-seeded Bonny Eagle boys’ basketball team.
And because they kept their poise, the Scots advanced to the Western Class A championship game with a 43-34 victory against sixth-ranked Deering at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
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Jamie Ross of Deering thundered a dunk that reduced Bonny Eagle’s lead to 38-34 with 1:20 remaining.
The play could have intimidated some teams, but Scots Coach Phil Bourassa rationalized the situation.
“A dunk is two points, just like a layup,” Bourassa said. “Our kids don’t get rattled by that stuff.”
The Scots (17-3) responded by going 5 of 8 on free throws in the final 1:13, and will face top-ranked Cheverus (20-0) for the regional title at 9 p.m Saturday at the Civic Center.
“We didn’t want to rush anything,” Scots guard Dustin Cole said of the final moments of the game. “We just had to stay composed and make free throws.”
Cole, a freshman, scored 16 points and helped the Scots limit the Rams (11-9) to 11 points in the second half, four points in the fourth quarter: Jon Amabile’s basket with 1:36 left and Ross’ dunk 16 seconds later.
Bourassa credited his team’s second-half play on the boards as the key in containing Deering.
“In the first half, I’d say probably half their points were off offensive rebounds,” Bourassa said. “I told them, ‘If we just box out, we’ll be fine.’ ”
Bonny Eagle tied the game at 12-12 seconds before the first-quarter buzzer when Steven Simonds connected with Cole on an inbounds play, and Cole put in an easy layup.
“I thought we did a really good job on assignments but Cole did a nice job,” Deering Coach Dan LeGage said. He showed a lot poise, a lot of maturity.”
The lead changed hands four times in the second quarter.
Cole put the Scots ahead 23-21 with 2:04 left in the half. Less than 40 seconds later, Ross (12 points) made it 23-23, and Deering worked the ball around in the final minute of the half, waiting to take the last shot.
But Ross’ jumper bounced off the rim and out, ending the half.
Deering broke the tie early in the third quarter on Patrick Green’s 3-pointer, then went more than five minutes before Ross made a bucket with two minutes left in the period.
In that time, the Scots built a 34-26 lead.
After Deering cut the lead to four with 1:24 left in the quarter, Cole’s off-balance shot before the buzzer gave the Scots a 36-30 lead entering the fourth.
The Scots maintained at least a four-point lead for the rest of the game.
“They hit shots and in the second and third quarters, we got away from what was working offensively,” LeGage said.
“That’s when they made their little spurt. They did a very good job of handling the ball through pressure.”
Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at:
rlenzi@pressherald.com
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