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Edward Little’s Pat Anthoine, right, faces a tough Oxford Hills defense during the Class AA Regional Championships at Portland’s Cross Arena Feb. 26. Oxford Hills won, 48-47. (Bill Van Tassel photo)
By Bill Van Tassel
PORTLAND — Teigan Pelletier’s jump shot with less than a second left in overtime gave Oxford Hills a 48-47 win and the Class AA North Regional championship on Feb. 26 at the Cross Insurance Arena.
Edward Little, which has one the last two of three titloes, ended it’s season with a 19-3 record.
The top-seeded Eddies beat the Vikings during the regular season, but a win Feb. 26 wasn’t in the cards.
Pelletier’s 24 points led the Vikings in the hard-fought contest, where the score moved back and forth between the Eddies and the Vikings. After a slow start, each team was able to make some brief runs that looked like they could put the game out of reach with some great shooting by Edward Little’s Marshall Adams and the Vikings’ Pelletier.
The Eddies took a lead in the fourth quarter with scores by seniors Hamza Sheikh, Pat Anthoine and John Shea at 36-33. The other end of the court saw Pelletier hit a three-pointer. In no time, as the last period closed in on the buzzer, the game was tied 38-38 with Pelletier missing a shot that could have sealed it for the Vikings.
More drama in the overtime had the fans on both sides of the arena shifting from nervous silence to hopeful shouting. Near the end of the overtime John Shea had a turn at the foul line. Normally, this would be a sure two-points for his Eddies. The EL senior shoots free throws almost as good as Larry Bird, but this turn went to the outlier category as Shea missed both shots. (Shea, a one thousand career-player, 26-point average, is one of 10 nominated for Mr. Maine Basketball.)
With just 8 seconds left in overtime and the Eddies up by one point, Oxford Hills got the ball to Teigen Pelletier, and he sank the winning basket with only .8 seconds left, an amount of time where only a miracle could alter the outcome.
The Oxford Hills team went on to face South Regional winner, South Portland, on March 5 at the Cross Arena in Portland for the Class AA State Championship.
