AUGUSTA — During a timeout with two minutes remaining in Wednesday night’s Eastern Class A boys’ semifinal, the Edward Little High School band played an impromptu version of the theme from “Jaws,” capped by someone letting out a blood-curdling scream.

Whether Bangor heard the ominous tune as it huddled around its bench is unknown, but there can be little doubt the Rams knew they were being stalked.

No. 2 Edward Little stormed back from a 10-point deficit with under five minutes remaining, then Yusef Iman banked a 20-foot 3-pointer with four seconds left in overtime to give the Red Eddies a thrilling 60-57 comeback victory over No. 3 Bangor in one of the best-played games the Augusta Civic Center has ever seen.

Edward Little will try to defend its regional championship at 8:45 p.m. Friday against top-seeded Brewer, who the Red Eddies have beaten three times this season.

With the score tied, EL (18-2) called a timeout to set up a play for Iman, a play similar to the one the senior guard used to beat Brewer in overtime during the regular season. Iman, who scored all six of the Eddies’ points in OT, dribbled left of a James Philbrook screen. He then let off a high arcing shot in front of EL’s bench that hit the lower left corner of the backboard square above the back of the rim, then somhow found the net.

Tristan Thomas’ desperation heave from three-quarter court fell short as some of his teammates tried to call a timeout, and the frenzy ensued on the Eddies’ sideline as they celebrated their second semifinal win over Bangor  in as many years.

“I forgot what the play was coming out of the huddle because all I’m thinking about was I want to take the last shot,” said Iman, who finished with a game-high 23 points and performed an equally-crucial task of shutting down Bangor’s Zach Blodgett in the second half. “Coach drew up a play, it didn’t work, and just the same as at Brewer, Jimbo (Philbrook) came up and set the screen. I don’t know why they didn’t hedge out. I just kind of let it fly.”

“I was pretty impressed that it went in,” he added. “I was more shocked than anything.”

It was that kind of night for both teams, EL shot a strong 51 percent from the floor. Bangor shot an even more impressive 59 percent.

The Eddies, who trailed most of the night and kept trying to claw their way back, seemed to hit a wall when Luke Hetterman’s steal and layup put Bangor (17-3) up 51-41 as the clock ticked under five minutes. But that would be the Rams’ last field goal of regulation, and Philbrook (15 points, nine rebounds, four steals), who has been battling turf toe all season, would score eight of the Eddies’ next 13 points to lead the comeback.

“Our pressure got us back into it, and then James stepped up in the fourth quarter as we tried getting it inside a little bit more,” EL coach Mike Adams said.

“Definitely as a senior and as a captain, you have to step up,” Philbrook said. “This is me and Yusuf’s team. We’ve been here for four years and we weren’t going to let this one end tonight.”

Bangor shut down EL’s inside game for long stretches, particularly in the first half, but Philbrook and Bo Leary (13 points, seven rebounds) got it going again in the final minutes of regulation. A Leary bucket off an Iman feed pulled the Eddies within 53-49 with 2:15 remaining. After a Leary free throw cut it to three and a Bangor miss, Timmy Mains came up with a big offensive rebound off an Iman 3-point attempt and fed it to Philbrook for two to make it a one-point game with 1:02 remaining.

“I think we had a bunch of opportunities late in the game which we just didn’t finish,” Bangor coach Roger Reed said. “We hurried ourselves instead of just finishing and I think that cost us in the end. Their three big players made big plays for them at the end of the game. I give them all the credit. They didn’t panic when they were down.”

Clark Noonan (12 points, nine rebounds) made one of two from the free throw line for Bangor and it was a two-point game with 48 seconds to play. Philbrook and Leary then teamed up for a nice two-man game where the latter found the former along the baseline for a layup that tied the game  with 22 seconds to go.

“I saw him open underneath and I had to get it to him somehow,” Leary said. “I didn’t want to turn it over there. We had some callous turnovers throughout the game.”

Indeed, 16 turnovers through the first three quarters nearly cost the Eddies dearly. Blodgett (19 points) was also a thorn in their side, scoring 17 points in the first half, including 11 in the second quarter.

But as the Rams threatened to pull away when Blodgett’s jumper gave them a 28-19 lead with 3:10 left in the first half, Iman entered the picture, drilling back-to-back 3s to pull the Red Eddies back within three.

Bangor did an excellent job of shutting down Iman’s penetration, so after a scoreless first quarter, he decided he could settle for what he could get for the perimeter. All he did was match Blodgett basket-for-basket, and then some (13 points in the quarter).

“That’s not the way you’re supposed to do it, but when you’re in a situation like that, where they’re playing phenomenal defense down low, I felt like if I didn’t step up, I’d be hurting my team,” Iman said.

Iman felt he could help his team at the other end in the second half, so he asked for the difficult assignment of guarding Blodgett.

“We just couldn’t stop him in the first half,” Adams said. “We put Yusuf on him because I think he’s our best on-the-ball defender. I was worried because he scored his first 17 points on jump shots and (with Iman on him) he’ll score 100 points off rebounds, because Yusuf isn’t our strongest rebounder. But he did a good job of keeping Blodgett off the glass in the second half.”

He also kept him off the scoreboard, limiting him to just two points.

Click here for more photos of the game.