Marc Kelvey’s tip-in with two seconds left sends the Tigers back to the state title game.
By Randy Whitehouse
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – Maybe they just needed to give the folks in Jay a year to recover.

Two years after a thrilling ride to their first state title in two decades, the Tigers sent their fans into a frenzy again and themselves back to the championship game with a dramatic 40-38 win in the Western Class C title game on Marc Kelvey’s tip-in with two seconds left.

Jay worked the clock down for the final shot, getting Sean Fry an open look on a step-back jumper from the top of the key. The ball bounced off the back of the rim and Kelvey got his hand above a crowd of rebounders for the tip and watched ass the ball rattled in.

Jay, which has won 16 straight, will meet Eastern Maine champion Houlton for the gold ball next Saturday night at the Augusta Civic Center.

“Me and Zach (Charles) got into position as so as we could and I just got up and tipped it right in,” Kelvey said. “This is what you dream about.”

Fry led second-seeded Jay (19-2) with 17 points and nine rebounds while Justin Wells added eight.David Wilgus paced fourth-seeded Georges Valley (14-7) with 13 points.

“I tried to penetrate and I just got cut off, then I saw Zach and Kelvey underneath the boards and I figured we had nothing to lose,” said Fry. “Kelvey was there, thank God.”

“This script couldn’t have been written any better,” said Jay coach Mike Child. “The pressure these kids have played under since the Hall-Dale loss (Jay’s last loss) has been immense. I told the kids we had to control the boards. We couldn’t let them do to us what they did to Hall-Dale.”

The difference may have been Jay’s dominance on the boards (37-19), as neither team found a consistent offensive flow in the first or second half. Georges Valley took a 6-4 lead on a Staples basket a little over two minutes into the game, but that would be the last Bucs’ field goal for awhile. A Kelvey putback sparked a 10-1 Jay run and the Tigers held a 14-9 lead at the end of one.

Georges Valley’s drought continued well into the second quarter while Jay extended its lead to 20-11 on a Ryan DiPompo layup with 3:40 left in the half. Zach Thorbjornson scored the first Bucs’ field goal in over 11 minutes with a layup of an out of bounds play. That began a 6-0 run to end the half that pulled GV within 20-17 at intermission.

Jay was led defensively by Zach Charles (11 rebounds), who held GV center Brett Hutchinson to just two field goals and seven points. Hutchinson scored 29 in the Buccaneers’ semifinal win over Hall-Dale.

“I saw Hutchinson the first two games and it seemed like he was the player of the tournament so far,” Charles said. “Let’s face it, I’m not an offensive player, I’m a defensive player. I played him hard all night. He’s a load down low.”

Foul trouble began to plague Jay in the third, as Fry picked up his third foul 1:03 into the period and Kelvey was forced to sit down with his fourth foul with 3:26 left. Georges Valley was able to chop a point off the lead when Wilgus scored on a leaner at the buzzer to make it 29-27 Jay heading into the final quarter.

Jay rode a 3-pointer by Wells and back-to-back jumpers by Fry and Kelvey to a 36-30 lead. But GV tightened the grips defensively, forcing 10 turnovers in the quarter, to claw back into the game on four Thorbjornson free throws, the last of which tied the game at 38 with 1:51 left.

The teams then traded turnovers and the Tigers took possession with 51 seconds left, calling two timeouts before working the clock down for the last shot.