AUGUSTA – What? Us worry?

Jay High School approached the last minute of Saturday night’s Western Class C boys’ basketball championship game with a confidence that thumbed its nose at the readings on the clock, scoreboard and noise meter.

Tied at 38 late Saturday night, the Tigers didn’t feel fret, panic or rush the season’s most important shot, dribbling away most of the final 58 seconds before making their move.

Such is life when recent history makes winning an expectation.

“We weren’t nervous. We just played hard,” Jay center Zach Charles said. “We’ve been in this situation before, and we gutted it out.”

For the second time in three nights, Jay prevailed in a game of inches at Augusta Civic Center. For the second time in three years, that last-second prosperity produced a regional championship at Georges Valley’s expense.

Multi-talented senior transfer student Sean Fry’s bid from the top of the key rattled in and out with three seconds left in regulation. That was enough time for classmates and tournament veterans Charles and Marc Kelvey to contest the rebound, with Kelvey’s fingertips redirecting the ball through the hoop one heartbeat before the final horn.

The 40-38 triumph propelled Jay into next Saturday night’s state final here against Houlton.

Scratch Jay’s 40-point quarterfinal win over Old Orchard Beach from the record and you might think the Tigers don’t know the meaning of a comfortable margin of victory.

As amazing as the razor-close finishes is Jay’s knack for winning them.

Two years ago, the regional final went to overtime before the Tigers trimmed the Buccaneers. The state final against Calais was settled by a technical foul against the Blue Devils for having two players standing on the end line prior to an in-bounds pass in the waning seconds.

Senior tri-captain Charles and juniors Ryan DiPompo and Justin Wells played supporting roles on that team.

“We have so much experience in these kind of games,” Wells said. “I’m not going to say we’re a cocky team, but we are very confident.”

Younger but still talented, last year’s Tigers threw a quarterfinal scare into second-seeded Hall-Dale before losing by a point.

Perhaps those challenges prepared the battle-hardened Tigers for a variety of tests off the court, including the last-minute arrival of a new coach, Mike Child, and the addition of Fry, a 6-foot-5 senior whose family moved from South Carolina in December.

Though talented enough to be a dominating presence in the Mountain Valley Conference, Fry proved a perfect fit to a team that already had a proven personality. Fry scored 17 points against Georges Valley and was named most valuable player of the tournament.

He was held in check in the semifinals, when Jay rallied from a nine-point deficit in the final six minutes of regulation to dismiss St. Dom’s in overtime.

Wells, DiPompo and Kelvey provided additional scoring spark in that game and shone defensively throughout the tournament, a stretch that extended Jay’s winning streak to 16 games after a 3-2 start.

“We had a good team (two years ago), but we reloaded,” DiPompo said.

Charles said that Jay’s recent basketball tournament exploits, state and regional baseball titles and football playoff appearance all play a role in the Tigers’ icy, late-game persona. Wells, point guard on the hardwood and quarterback on the gridiron, agreed.

“I think experience pays off,” Wells said. “We look forward to playing the state game here. This is a completely different gym than Bangor. (Houlton) will have to adjust.”

Not to mention encounter a team that doesn’t know how to lose the close ones.

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