Matt McDonnell’s 3-pointer lifts Oxford Hills past Brunswick.
By Randy Whitehouse
Staff Writer

SOUTH PARIS – Fans packed into the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School gymnasium expecting an exciting clash between the two top teams in the KVAC.

It took a little while, but they got more than their money’s worth.

Matt McDonnell’s fadeaway 3-pointer at the buzzer lifted Oxford Hills to a 50-48 win over Brunswick Friday night, setting off a wild celebration on the court and assuring the best start in Vikings’ boys basketball history.

With the game knotted at 47 with 53 seconds left, Brunswick came out of a timeout looking for the last shot. The Dragons worked the clock under 10 seconds when Ralph Mims penetrated to the middle of the lane and was fouled.

Mims made the first free throw but missed the second, which Corey Tielinen rebounded and pushed the ball upcourt. With Mims pressuring him just over halfcourt, Tielinen found McDonnell on the left wing. With a Brunswick defender draped all over him, McDonnell turned and fired just before the buzzer went off and found nothing but net.

“I knew Ralph would be all over Tielinen, so I was looking for the ball,” said McDonnell, who scored seven of his team-high 17 points in the final two minutes. “That was a huge win.”

“We had a foul to give,” said Brunswick coach Todd Hanson. “We wanted to foul in the backcourt to make them set up an out-of-bounds play, but we didn’t get to it and we paid for it with McDonnell’s shot.”

Mims led Brunswick (4-1) with 30 points, nine rebounds, seven steals and five blocks. Tielinen had 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Vikings, who are now 6-0.

“We figured that it’d be a dogfight right to the end,” said Vikings’ coach Scott Graffam. “We hoped that we would be in the game by the end of the third quarter and then we were going to go triangle-and-two, make Ralph give the ball up and make their other kids beat us. They made their shots. We just made the last one, that’s all.”

After an anemic first quarter in which both teams combined to make just six of 28 shots, the Vikings took control in the second quarter by attacking the basket and pounding the offensive glass. They led by as many as 14 in the quarter as Mims struggled to find his shooting touch from the perimeter. The star guard finally started heating up toward the end of the half to help Brunswick whittle the deficit down to nine.

“It was one of those games where you know Ralph and Corey are the veterans on both teams and the other kids have to figure out whether they’re going to be able to do it or not,” Graffam said. “I think there was a little tentativeness on both sides to start and both teams were really pumped up.”

“We were getting good looks. We just weren’t making them,” said Hanson, whose team shot just 19 percent from the floor in the first half. “We emphasized being patient. We knew Ralph would get his gear going and he did a really good job in the second half of getting open looks and creating space for himself.”

Mims found his shooting range in the third quarter, connecting on three 3-pointers, the last of which beat the buzzer to tie the game at 36.

Oxford Hills switched defenses to start the fourth, going to the triangle-and-two and box-and-one to harass Mims. The plan worked in that it got the ball out of the senior’s hands, but Justin Gauvin made the Vikings pay with two big shots in the quarter. His 3-pointer gave the Dragons the lead to start the fourth.

Oxford Hills reclaimed the lead again a couple of minutes later on Leif Kothe’s trey. Mims answered with a steal and layup to tie the game again before McDonnell went off, scoring on a runner and a 12-footer to maintain the tie as the teams traded baskets in the final two minutes to set up the thrilling finish.