Bryce Wilcox hears the taunts — “toothless” and “who’s your dentist?” — from opposing student sections, and laughs them off.

Mt. Abram’s Bryce Wilcox scores a basket during the 2024 Class C south semifinals against Carrabec last February in Augusta. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

The Mt. Abram senior lost a front right tooth when he crashed his bike into a steel mailbox before he was in high school.

“Clotheslined,” he said.

Now, Wilcox has a removable tooth that he occasionally wears while competing in sports.

“In soccer season, I was a big no-tooth guy,” he said. “I was like, ‘No tooth in,’ thought it was tough. In the beginning of basketball, I was rocking no tooth, and then I lost it, and my mom got a little mad, so I didn’t want to lose it again.”

Whether sporting the tooth or not, Wilcox is a big reason why Mt. Abram is playing for the Class C championship this weekend. The Roadrunners (20-1), who won the program’s first regional title last weekend, face Mattanwacook Academy (21-0) at 8:45 p.m. Saturday at Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

The road to the state championship game was rocky for Wilcox, who fouled out early in the fourth quarter of regional quarterfinal and semifinal wins over Dirigo and Hall-Dale.

“I picked up my fifth (foul against Dirigo) pretty early in the fourth, and I already sat a couple minutes before that, which I was pretty frustrated (about),” Wilcox said. “The Hall-Dale game was real brutal, I picked up two in the first half, and then I think I got my third, like 30 seconds into the third quarter. It was just downhill from there.”

Wilcox was disappointed to spend the end of two playoff games on the bench, but he said he was confident that the Roadrunners had the talent to prevail without him.

Mt. Abram’s Bryce Wilcox dribbles past Hall-Dale’s Greyson Cary in a Class C South boys semifinal at the Augusta Civic Center on Feb. 20. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

“Killian (Pillsbury) started adding some buckets, and our bigs started stepping up and it was just, it was real,” Wilcox said. “It was honestly pretty special to me to watch them just do that, especially with me not being able to help. It was hard, but I was really happy for them.”

Pillsbury, a junior point guard, scored 26 points against Hall-Dale. Reagan Lockaby stepped up big for Mt. Abram against Dirigo, scoring 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Sophomore starter Brennan Mitchell was out the majority of tournament week with the flu, so Harrison Thomas and Andrew Rother filled in off the bench.

Wilcox didn’t commit any fouls in the South final victory over Monmouth and led the Roadrunners with 23 points. Instead of watching from the bench in the fourth quarter, he was on the floor and made 8 of 11 free throws to help seal Mt. Abram’s first regional championship.

CHANGING ROSTER

Mt. Abram’s top scorers last season, Cam Frost and Payton Mitchell, graduated, and Logan Dube did not return for his senior season.

“We had a lot of (talent) last year, so people filled in the spots pretty well,” Killian Pillsbury said. “It wasn’t too bad, but definitely losing Logan hurt.”

Wilcox was Mt. Abram’s third leading scorer last year. This season, he’s the team’s top scorer.

“He’s pretty unselfish,” Killian Pillsbury said. “So if you get him the ball, he’ll either give it back to you, or he’ll make something happen. He always seems to draw double coverage, so if he gets double coverage, he’ll either pass it or he makes a good play every time.”

Pillsbury leads the team in assists and has become a more prolific scorer. Others have also taken on larger roles to fill in for the players lost.

“Reagan (Lockaby’s) a state champ in high jumps, so he’s 6-3 and he’s pretty athletic, so you get a big who can run and jump,” Mt. Abram coach Jeff Pillsbury said. “Brennan (Mitchell) is long and he was a starting midfielder in soccer, so he’s pretty athletic.”

Jeff Pillsbury said that while some players lacked varsity minutes, they’d matched up against experienced players like Wilcox, Mitchell and Frost in practices.

“I wish I had five guys that could play every position, but I think they bought into (their roles) pretty well … we ask them to do the things they do well,” Jeff Pillsbury said.

Killian Pillsbury said he felt people underestimated Mt. Abram heading into the season. But not only did the Roadrunners earn Class C South’s top seed for the second year in a row, they did so with a better regular-season record, 17-1 this year compared to 16-2 in 2023-24.

Jeff Pillsbury said he still thinks Mt. Abram has not played to its full potential and hopes Saturday’s state final brings it out.

“The thing that I like about them is they battle, they compete, and sometimes their emotions get in the way, because they want to win,” Jeff Pillsbury said. “They like competing, but I think the chemistry is really good.”

AIMING FOR GOLD BALL

Wilcox was part of Mt. Abram’s Class C championship boys soccer team in 2023. He said winning a state title in basketball on Saturday might top that.

“We had so much talent on that soccer team, it was ridiculous the talent we had,” Wilcox said. “But, for this Gold Ball, I really think we had to put some real good effort and really try our hardest.”

Mt. Abram’s girls basketball team won state championships in 1991 and 2007, but Saturday is the boys program’s first state final appearance.

Jeff Pillsbury said the competitive Mountain Valley Conference helped prepare the Roadrunners for the postseason. The MVC has won the past five Class C state titles, dating back to 2019.

“Our community really enjoys basketball, and we’ve been waiting for one of these things for a while, so it would be cool for the kids first and foremost, but I think it would be pretty neat for our community to bring home a Gold Ball,” Jeff Pillsbury said.