Gorham overcomes a nine-point deficit late and stuns Mountain Valley in OT.
By Randy Whitehouse
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -Down nine with just under five minutes to go, the Gorham Rams seemed on the verge of suffering a fate rarely, if ever, duplicated in their storied basketball history – elimination in the Western Class B semifinals by the same team in consecutive years.

Instead, the third-seeded Rams scored the final nine points of regulation then dominated the overtime, to knock off defending Western B champion and previously unbeaten Mountain Valley, 56-50, Wednesday night at the Augusta Civic Center.

Dogged by poor free throw shooting (16-of-34) and charging calls for much of the night, the Rams (18-2) nevertheless remained aggressive. While their vaunted running game was neutralized by Mountain Valley’s rebounding dominance (47-24, 24-5 on the offensive boards), the Rams drove the Falcons’ big men into foul trouble and themselves into high-percentage shots (43 percent from the field, compared to 30 percent for the second-seeded Falcons).

Gorham, which lost a semifinal thriller to Mountain Valley last year, survives to meet fourth-seeded Lake Region in Friday’s regional final.

“We just kept fighting. We didn’t lose hope,” Gorham junior forward Ben Thayer said. “There was definitely a little extra emotion (beating Mountain Valley).”

Justin Brown led Gorham with 18 points. Max Bass added 14 and Thayer 12. Zach Fergola and Marcus Palmer combined for seven 3-pointers to lead the Falcons (19-1) with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

“That was a gritty, gritty performance by both teams,” said Gorham coach Kevin Jenkins. “They seemed to make every big shot in the first half. The second half was the same for us. It wasn’t pretty basketball, but these are two hard working teams.”

“We’re a little young, we play with a ton of emotion, and when a team shows the maturity Gorham did and they come back on you, sometimes that spooks the young guys a little bit,” Falcons’ coach Ryan Casey said.

A Fergola 3-pointer with 4:54 left capped a 10-1 Falcon run to start the fourth quarter, but that was it for their scoring for the rest of regulation. Bass, one of the few Rams who was consistent from the charity stripe, started the comeback with a pair of free throws, then Kurt Randall (eight points, 12 boards) cut the margin to three with back-to-back buckets.

After Mountain Valley center Jarod Oldham fouled out with 40 seconds left, Thayer drained one-of-two from the line to make it a two-point game. A foul sent Mountain Valley to the charity stripe for one-and-one. When the first free throw failed (MV was 2-for-7 free throw shooting), Isaac Stickney (six points 13 boards) grabbed the rebound for the Falcons. But Gorham got the ball back when the senior center was charged with a controversial three-second call after kicking the ball back out to a teammate.

“I’m glad it was on TV, that’s all I can say,” Casey said.

Brown’s ensuing runner tied the game with 16 seconds left. Stickney’s jumper to win it went in and out, sending the game to overtime.

“We got the look at the end of regulation that we wanted,” Casey said. “We could have gotten some better looks down the stretch, but we played our hearts out. I’m very proud of them.”

Gorham scored the first six points of the extra session on a Matt Trask drive, a Thayer putback and two Bass free throws. Byron Glaus put the Falcons on the board with a jumper, but the momentum shift in the Rams’ favor became apparent when even their misses from the charity stripe began to work to their advantage. Randall made one-of-two at the line, and Thayer rebounded the miss for a putback that put the game away.

Mountain Valley built a 10-point halftime lead playing unforgiving defense, especially close to the basket. By drawing a series of charges and forcing turnovers, the Falcons limited the Rams to one field goal attempt during a five minute stretch in the second quarter while putting together a 10-0 run.

“We knew they could penetrate and our big men knew they were going to have to take some fouls,” Casey said. “We also took a bunch of charges. We worked great in the halfcourt on defense.”

Brown began to stretch that defense in the third quarter with a pair of treys, the last of which pulled the Rams within two. Brown then sliced through the lane and threw in a leaner a minute later, with the Falcons shooting just 3-of-14 in the period, tied the game at 35 heading into the fourth quarter.

“It’s hard for all of those charges not to create hesitation on our part, but we can’t back away. We can’t settle for outside shots the whole night,” Thayer said.