Topsham – Finn Mitchell’s shot cleared the outstretched arms of Mt. Ararat’s Jared Balser and hit the bottom of the net with six seconds remaining to give Brunswick its first lead of the night as the visitors slipped past the Eagles, 49-48 in a thrilling Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference battle in boys high school basketball action Thursday night.

The win in all likelihood lifts the Dragons to the No. 6 seed in the Class A South postseason, avoiding a prelim match up next week, with Brunswick finishing the regular season at 9-9.

Mt. Ararat also finished 9-9 and will likely host Morse in a prelim game next week (TBA).

Trailing by eight points early in the final period, Mitchell took over, scoring 10 of his game-high 26 points in the final frame.

“I wanted the ball. I really don’t remember what coach said to motivate us in that final quarter, but just like he’s told us all year, intensity, talk on ‘D,’ and play smart with mental toughness.”

“Finn was outstanding out there for us tonight,” Brunswick coach Todd Hanson said. “He’s had a great senior year for us .”

The Dragons slowly closed the gap in the fourth, with Noah Cox nailing a trey to cut into the eight-point lead. A Will Kavanaugh hoop extended the Eagles lead back to five with 1:20 left, but Mitchell hit a layup the next time down the court to make it 45-42.

Max Spelke, who scored all of his five points in the fourth, went 3-for-4 from the line to keep the Eagles ahead, 48-44, with 30 seconds remaining.

Mitchell drained a shot from behind the arc to silent the crowd to make the score 48-47 with less than 20 seconds remaining. A Brunswick timeout allowed the Dragons to set up their defense and put pressure on the Eagles.

As Mt. Ararat brought the ball up the court, Balser cut to the side to take the ball at halfcourt, but the senior’s momentum began to carry him out of bounds and he passed the ball back, causing a backcourt violaton and an Eagles turnover.

Mitchell grabbed the inbounds pass and drove to the left side of the hoop for his go-ahead shot.

The Eagles immediately put the ball in play and Kavanaugh was able to get a shot off, but it missed and an Austin Damon put-back was ruled to have left his hands after the final horn, giving the Dragons the one-point victory.

“We just haven’t been able to close out games all year,” Mt. Ararat coach David Dubreuil said. “We have to learn how to close out games. We have to control the end of the game, play our style of basketball and finish a game strong, instead of back pedaling and putting ourselves into a corner. My message to them during timeouts was finish strong.”

“We knew we were still in it in the fourth,” Mitchell said. “We know we’re capable of coming back, even against a good team like this.”

“Brunswick always comes up with a way to beat us,” Kavanaugh said as the Dragons defeated the Eagles by one point for the second time this season. “I’m a senior and we weren’t able to beat them all four years, they’re a good team.”

First half energy

The Eagles came out soaring in the first quarter. Following Senior Night festivities, the home team sprinted out to a 17-8 lead after one quarter in front of a full Mt. Ararat gym, taking advantage of five Dragon turnovers in the first eight minutes.

“They came out quick and hit us hard,” Hanson said. “It’s always a tight game with these guys and we didn’t expect anything less.”

Balser had a quarter in the first. The senior dropped 10 points while hauling down a pair of rebounds.

“That’s how we’re capable of playing, we know Brunswick is a good team and we wanted to get out to a hot start,” Dubreuil said.

Kavanaugh hit a shot with three minutes left in the half to push the Eagles’ lead to 12.

“I told the kids during the timeout that we needed to keep the pressure on and close this thing out,” Dubreuil said. “But we let them back in it to close out the half, not putting them away.”

A 7-0 run for the Dragons to end the half cut the Mt. Ararat lead to 28-22 after 16 minutes of play. Balser led all scorers at the break with 12 points, followed by Nathan Taylor’s eight. Damon grabbed five first-half boards as the Eagles held a slight 12-10 advantage in rebounds.

Mitchell and Cox each netted eight first-half points for the visitors.

Third frame

The teams played an even third quarter, each scoring 10 points, and not letting each other put together any sort of run. Mitchell scored eight points in the frame, but a Sean Roberts trey as time expired kept the Eagles lead at six, setting up the final quarter excitement.

“Finn’s been great for us all year. A lot of times it goes unnoticed as he usually guards one of the other team’s best players,” Hanson said. “He doesn’t come out much as we ask a lot of him. I’m really proud of him with the last bucket, it was a tough shot.”

Brunswick can now put together some practices and await its first-round match up next week, something Hanson said his team deserves.

“We’ve had a tough stretch on our schedule,” Hanson said as his team had lost four of their last five games before Thursday. “Even though we lost a close one to Leavitt and played (Edward Little) tough, I saw some fight in our guys, and it came through tonight. They deserved this.”

Behind Mitchell’s 26, Cox finished with 11 points for the Dragons.

For Mt. Ararat, Dubreuil’s words were simple in the locker room afterwards.

“We don’t have time to sigh and put our heads down,” the Mt. Ararat coach said. “We’ll be back at it tomorrow and have some good practices. Morse has played us hard twice, we’ll have our work cut out for us.”

Balsler led the Eagles with 14 points, while Taylor added eight. Damon grabbed 10 rebounds in the loss.

 

 

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