Tielinen cool under pressure
By Randy Whitehouse
Staff Writer

SOUTH PARIS – Decked out in sweats and a New England Patriots knit cap, Corey Tielinen relaxed in a chair in coach Scott Graffam’s office and contemplated the state of the Oxford Hills boys’ basketball team.

“There is quite a bit of pressure on us now because pretty much the whole community is behind us and coming out and watching us. That puts some pressure on you anyway,” the 6-foot-5 senior said. “But we’re pretty much relaxed about it all. We just go about our business and do what we need to do and win basketball games.”

The business of winning basketball is booming right now for Oxford Hills. The Vikings are ranked second in the most recent Heal Points standings behind Brunswick, who they beat earlier this year, and are sporting an impressive 10-0 mark.

The Vikings’ start this season tied the longest win streak in school history (they can break it tonight with a win over Cony) and is a new school record for the best start to a season. They’re also in range to beat the school’s best finish in Heals, which was fourth.

All of those accolades are nice, but Tielinen isn’t as concerned with where his team finishes the regular season as he is with how it will be playing heading into the post-season.

“We just need to get better every time we go out and we just need to make the run at the end of the year to get the momentum going,” Tielinen said.

Tielinen knows a thing or two about momentum. A starter since his sophomore season, he has suffered early exits from the Eastern A playoffs the last two years, losing in the quarterfinals each time.

“The second half of the year, going into the playoffs, we’ve had these droughts,” he said. “I think it was last year, we were 9-1 or 10-1 or something like that. We finished 14-4, so you lose a little momentum. That’s something that as a leader this year I have to keep the reminding the team. Even though we may be at the top, we have to keep improving going in to Bangor because we need all of the momentum we can get.”

Momentum has to start somewhere. For Tielinen, it started over the summer.

Though 6-5, Tielinen was known more for his outside shooting than his work in the paint the last two years. While his versatility was a strength, his 185-pound frame was not, especially in the physical KVAC.

“The biggest key was I put on about 20-25 pounds in the offseason to make myself stronger because that’s what hurt me in Bangor last year,” Tielinen said. “Graf finally got it through to me that I needed to be bigger.”

Tielinen also toughened up playing AAU ball over the summer. Impressed with his center’s commitment during the offseason, Graffam charged him with the role of team leader.

“I named him one of the co-captains. In the 22 years I’ve coached varsity basketball, I don’t think I’ve had more than two or three teams that I didn’t let the kids vote for captain,” Graffam said.

Tielinen, who scored a 1,440 on his SATs and has been accepted at Georgia Tech and has drawn interest from Lafayette, was smart enough to know what his designation meant.

“This year, it is pretty much my team now and I look to do what I can to make the team better as a whole,” he said.

How has he done? The Vikings’ record speaks for itself. Tielinen, meanwhile, is widely regarded as the second-best player in the KVAC, behind Division I prospect Ralph Mims of Brunswick.

While he has improved his presence in the paint, his versatility hasn’t suffered. Tielinen, who made 36 3-pointers last year, has 21 already this year and is shooting over 40 percent from beyond the arc.

Those numbers just scratch the surface as to why Graffam wants the ball in Tielinen’s hands at the end of games. He has a way of keeping his wits about him when the pressure is at its zenith.

“Being around him is not like being around a kid a lot of times. He has a very mature sense of humor,” Graffam said. “Before the Brunswick game, most of our kids were changed by halftime of the JV game and bouncing off the walls. He’s in here (Graffam’s office), just sitting here, almost asleep. He’s got a great demeanor.”

Later that night, Tielinen turned down a chance to shoot the game-winning basket in a one-point game, giving up the ball in the closing seconds to teammate Matt McDonnell, who hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win the game.

“I don’t really care who gets the spotlight. I just want to win some tournament games,” he said, tugging at his Patriots’ cap. “As long as we keep winning, I don’t care how it’s done.”

rwhitehouse@sunjournal.com

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