PORTLAND – Waynflete School junior Joe Stockmeyer wears one of those knee braces you can’t miss and throws his body around the basketball court as if he’s trying to complete the set.
One of those risk-reward moments paid off fabulously for Stockmeyer on Wednesday evening, when his off-balance fling at the basket rattled off the window and through the hoop with 19 seconds remaining in regulation. Stockmeyer’s basket boosted No. 7 Waynflete to a 39-37 victory over No. 10 St. Dom’s in a tense, noisy Western Class C preliminary game.
The Flyers (9-10) defeated St. Dom’s for the second time in four tries this winter and will travel to Augusta Civic Center for a quarterfinal against No. 2 Winthrop at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
“I have no idea how that shot went in,” said Stockmeyer. “This means the world to us. Going to Augusta is going to be great exposure for our program.”
Stockmeyer scored nine of his game-high 14 points in the fourth quarter. St. Dom’s (8-11) had ample time to set up its potential game-tying shot, but with three fouls to give before falling into the bonus situation, Waynflete milked the clock and broke the Saints’ concentration by using each one.
That left St. Dom’s with only 2 seconds to get the job done. The Saints worked the ball to the left baseline, where sophomore Billy Colasante broke free for a relatively open 10-footer. It hugged the rim and rattled out at the horn.
Colasante was the Saints’ go-to guy down the stretch, scoring six of his 13 points in the final 3:08.
“We won two really tough games against them during the (Western Maine Conference) season. One of them was an overtime game here. But the better team won today,” said St. Dom’s coach Dan Leland.
Justin Richardson added nine points in his final game for the Saints. Colasante and Andrew Allen combined for eight blocked shots.
St. Dom’s succeeded in silencing Waynflete’s lone senior and leading scorer, Lance Callender. The 6-foot-2 swingman scored only six points, a dozen below his regular-season norm. The Saints shut out Callender in the second half and held Waynflete scoreless for the final 4:46 of the third quarter.
Richardson’s 3-pointer from the left corner tied the game during that stretch, but the Saints missed a golden opportunity to take control by matching Waynflete’s cold spell. The conference rivals went a combined 4-for-29 from the field in the third period, ending in a 24-24 deadlock.
“We would have liked to see someone new (for an opponent), but on the other hand, I don’t think you could ask for a much closer game,” said Waynflete coach Rich Henry. “I think the familiarity started to breed a little contempt there at the end.”
Joe Bonneau knocked down a trifecta off a crosscourt pass from Andrew Gilbert (six assists) to give St. Dom’s the lead to open the fourth quarter. But Waynflete suddenly found its range from the floor, hitting five of seven and going up 34-29 on Stockmeyer’s foul-line jumper with 3:32 to go.
Colasante tied the game twice for the Saints in the final two minutes, the second when Richardson found him for an open 15-footer with 50 seconds remaining.
“We held the Callender kid scoreless in the second half, which is what we wanted to do,” Leland said. “No. 45 (Stockmeyer) just hit some big shots. That’s what it takes in a game like this where you both want to go to Augusta – somebody to step up.”
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