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AUBURN — The game was in Hollis Schwalm’s hands. And boy, did the Camden Hills senior know it.

“It was the scariest layup to date, so far, for my career,” Schwalm said. “I was really just praying I was going to make it.”

The prayer was answered. Schwalm’s layup in transition with 1.2 seconds left lifted the Camden Hills boys basketball team over Edward Little, 61-59, in a season-opening pulse-pounder between two teams that figure to be Class A contenders.

“That’s Class A basketball,” said Camden Hills coach Joel Gabriele, who also got 11 points from Kiefer Healey and nine from Tucker Whitley. “This is new enemy territory, we’ve never played in this gym before. We knew how tough this was going to be. We wanted this.”

Nolan Ames of the Windjammers (29 points) and Akol Maiwen of the Red Eddies (27 points) took turns catching fire in the second half. Ames got hot first, putting Camden Hills up by as much as 16, but a blistering fourth quarter from Maiwen allowed Edward Little to come all the way back and even take a 59-57 lead with under two minutes to go.

The score was tied at 59, after two Ames free throws, when the Red Eddies began their last possession with 32 seconds left. Maiwen lost the handle on a drive, and Ames gathered the ball and fed it ahead to Schwalm, who had taken off for the basket.

Schwalm’s lefty finish got in just ahead of Chan Ring’s chase-down attempt, giving the Windjammers the lead. Schwalm (eight points) also disrupted Edward Little’s inbounds attempt, sealing the win.

“Somehow, the ball ended up around half court, and I just gunned it down,” Schwalm said. “(Ames) could have dunked on someone, but instead he hit me. He was sharing the love a little bit.”

Ames was calm while handling the ball after the turnover.

“I fumbled it a little, I looked at the clock, and I look up and I see Hollis is wide open. There’s no way I’m not passing to him,” Ames said. “He makes that layup, it all slows down, it was just a great feeling.”

Gabriele said it wasn’t a surprise to see the two seniors playing with poise in the deciding moment.

“They’re captains for a reason,” he said. “Those types of plays are things you think about … when you’re a little kid thinking about making impact plays in high school basketball.”

Such a finish seemed unlikely when Ames scored 11 points in the first four minutes of the third, helping the Windjammers build a 51-40 lead going into the fourth.

But Maiwen brought the Red Eddies back with 3-pointers on each of their first three possessions of the fourth, igniting the Edward Little crowd. His three-point play with 4:08 to play cut the deficit to one, and Ring continued the momentum with a pair of go-ahead baskets, the last making it 59-57 with 1:47 to play.

“I liked our energy right out of the gate. … We kind of took the foot off the pedal a little bit and kind of got complacent,” said Edward Little coach Jimbo Philbrook, who got 13 points from Cedric Makelele. “But I’m super proud of the way we competed and fought back. We definitely showed some pride there.”

Factoring in a preseason victory over two-time Class AA champion Windham that was decided in the closing seconds, the Windjammers are building a lot of confidence in pressure situations.

“We know we can beat any team in the state,” Ames said, “and we knew we were going to win this game.”