FAIRFIELD – This year it’s Bangor Auditorium. Next year it’s Augusta Civic Center. Hey, wherever. Given the prevailing, half-court, chessboard style of boys’ basketball in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, you could move the bean bag chairs and bowling trophies and play the Eastern Class A tournament in someone’s basement. Only if they don’t mind the traffic and their heart can stand the dramatic finish.
Corey Kelley didn’t score a point all Thursday night until Lawrence held the ball for the final minute of regulation, found a seam in the Mt. Blue zone defense and located the 6-foot-5 center for a short leaner with four seconds remaining.
It gave Lawrence an unlikely and unsightly 29-28 victory, one that tasted like mouthwash to the Bulldogs (8-2) after recent last-second losses to Leavitt and Brunswick.
“We lost two in a row at the buzzer, and it feels like we’ve won eight at the buzzer,” said Lawrence coach Mike McGee, whose team erased a nine-point deficit in the final 6:05.
Wild stuff, considered the Bulldogs scored only nine points in the first half and trailed 24-17 at the end of three.
Perhaps Lawrence’s clock operator captured it best. When he returned the official book to McGee after the game, he thanked the coach for trying a two-point conversion and playing for the win instead of the tie.
Actually, Lawrence did gamble, playing for the final shot despite trailing by one.
Jake Gregory (12 points, six steals) fouled out for the Bulldogs with 59 seconds remaining, and Arthur Trask knocked down both ends of the one-and-one to retrieve a 28-27 Cougars lead.
Lawrence called timeout with 28 seconds left and waited until single digits were showing to pull the trigger on the game-winner. Dylan Costigan drove to the top of the key and pitched to Kelley along the left baseline for the deuce.
Garrett Parker stole the subsequent inbounds pass and sent Mt. Blue (6-5) to its second agonizing defeat in three nights. Brunswick won a similar pitcher’s duel Tuesday.
“And we played well enough to win both,” said Mt. Blue coach Jim Bessey. “Maybe we were a little tired at the end. I think it’s more fatiguing playing defense and following the ball like that all night long than running up-and-down.”
If the Bulldogs’ four-corner offense didn’t drive Mt. Blue to distraction, their backcourt pressure in the fourth quarter finished the job. Lawrence forced 10 turnovers in the closing stanza. Gregory and Jon Kelley each made three steals.
Trask nailed an off-balance jumper to give the Cougars a 26-17 edge with 6:26 to go. Astonishingly, it was Mt. Blue’s final field goal attempt of the game.
Had it not been for seven missed free throws in the period, Lawrence wouldn’t have needed the Costigan-to-Kelley heroics.
“We’re not a great team,” underscored McGee, “but it might be the best defensive team I’ve had in 23 years at Lawrence.”
Corey Kelley’s other major contribution was limiting Mt. Blue big man Ted Neil to eight points. Trask and Adam Gilbert, both sophomores, finished with six apiece.
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