PORTLAND – Bonny Eagle deadeye Dustin Cole and South Portland quickdraw Tanner Hyland met Saturday night for a shoot-out at the Civic Center Corral. Their teammates arrayed around them, they charged up and down the court, shooting – and draining – threes and twos and free throws like their lives, or at least their basketball seasons, were on the line. And of course they were.

For Hyland and fellow seniors Calvin Carr, Ryan Pelletier, Ben Burkey, John Tolan, Connor MacVane and Trevor Borelli, this season will be their last, so winning Saturday’s Western Maine Class A Final and advancing to next Saturday’s state championship game in Augusta was especially pressing.

The game was in doubt until the final buzzer, and it came down to Cole and Hyland, as the former hit a 3-pointer to pull the Scots within two points with eight seconds to go, followed by the latter knocking down the final free throws to ice the 56-52 win, and bring a championship back to South Portland.

The Riots will face undefeated Hampden at 7 p.m. at the Augusta Civic Center next Saturday for the state title. Hampden freshman Nick Gilpin hit a Hail Mary three at the buzzer to lift his team over Lawrence in the Eastern Maine final. After losing their third straight regional final, Bonny Eagle’s season ends at 17-4.

“A lot of people said we needed to get it inside every time,” Riot team captain Carr said after the game. “But we knew we needed to use our bigs, but not rely on them.”

“Our strategy coming in was to play good man defense,” South Portland head coach Phil Conley said. “We know they have two good scorers in [Dustin] Cole and [Ben] Malloy, and [CJ] Autry can hit the three ball from outside, so we had to defend all of them.”

The first quarter started slowly, scoreless seconds crawling by. Just over a minute in, Hyland fouled Bonny Eagle sophomore Malloy, who threw two from the line, but made only one the game’s first point. Hyland promptly made up for his mistake by draining the first of a record seven threes he posted on the evening, though Burkey proceeded to commit a similar error, an offensive foul that negated his first two of the game. Tolan had his back, however, and dropped in a two some 25 seconds later. Bonny Eagle sophomore Zach Dubiel then answered with a crowd-pleasing three, and when Burkey then missed a pass and turned the ball over, Dubiel reiterated himself with a crowd-erupting second three. Hyland rebutted with five quick points, but MacVane lost a two on a travel violation, then fouled Dubiel, who added two from the line.

With under two minutes to go, Bonny Eagle’s Autry snagged a defensive rebound and dished the ball to Cole, who finally cleared his throat with a two. Hyland and Red Riot sophomore Jaren Muller both sank twos as the final minute approached, and Cole put up a long three, tying the score at 14. With only seconds left, Tolan added two and drew the foul, landing the extra point as well and putting South Portland ahead, 17-14. But with still fewer seconds left, Cole did exactly the same thing, leveling the playing field once again.

The Scots found a groove to begin the second. Autry snatched another defensive rebound and worked the ball up court, where it changed hands several times before Malloy drained a three. Cole added two, then two more while also coaxing a foul from Carr.

“Me and Trevor [Borelli] had the assignment to cover [Cole] the whole game,” Carr said. “I’ve played with that kid since like sixth grade, I’m good friends with him, he’s a great player. He’s real hard to guard. I fouled out, Trevor had four fouls. I thought he was going to foul out our whole team. And he doesn’t miss free throws.”

After adding the extra point, Cole went back to work, stalking the offensive perimeter for a long minute before driving to the net and posting two more. South Portland found themselves manhandled, scoreless for over six minutes, and called timeout. They returned effectively, MacVane feeding Tolan for two, but then committed a series of fouls that cost them time and three more points at the hands of Cole. The Red Riots managed the half’s last basket, a Tolan to Hyland three, but heading to the locker rooms, they were still down, 29-22.

“In the locker room, at first we were a little flustered,” Carr said. “But we said, ‘We’re not losing this game. We have seven seniors, it’s not going to be our last basketball game. We’re going out with a win.”

“Offensively, we needed to get the ball inside,” Conley said. “In the first half, we didn’t get the ball inside as much as we would’ve liked. So at the half, we talked about a couple things: getting the ball inside, and staying together as a group. We do that, we’ll be right back in the game.”

In the third, South Portland returned to the court refocused, and began to take advantage of their size inside. In the first three minutes, Hyland shunted the ball to 6-foot-5 Muller, waiting beneath the net, three times. Each time, Muller easily capitalized. Hyland then rained down his next three before repeating the Muller trick once more.

“That was a play at halftime we said we were going to run, Jarren Muller with a ball screen from Tanner, see if we could get some Tanner off a screen, and also to give Jarren the ball inside,” Conley said. “He’s a great scorer, he’s got great hands.”

Cole, fired up, plunged forward on offense, failing to sink a two, but drawing another foul from Carr and recouping his pair of points from the line. On South Portland’s follow-up possession, Cole swiped the ball and broke for the other end of the court, teetering dangerously close to the sideline. Whether he stepped out of bounds is hard to say, but the official called him out, and South Portland narrowly averted a minor crisis. Tolan and Hyland then contributed five before Cole found his way back to the line, going two for two again.

His four points in the third were Bonny Eagle’s only points in the third. But the Red Riots had assembled 16 and seized a 38-33 lead.

In the fourth, Cole wasted no time narrowing the gap by draining a three 30 seconds in. Burkey and Dubiel then traded twos before Hyland added five, three of which Cole immediately took back from the line. Scots senior Jon Thomas next snatched a defensive rebound, a play which ended with Autry at the line going 2 for 2. Muller hashed two more, but Cole, again at the line, balanced him out. His next two, from the field, followed another Hyland three, meaning the Scots were losing inches. MacVane added two, and then Autry fouled out, a pair of bad news items for Bonny Eagle. Cole, however, then drew Carr’s fifth foul, and he left the game, so each lineup was down a starter. The clock winding down, South Portland wasn’t yet out of reach for the Scots; a spectacular three by Cole with 8.2 seconds to play put the score at 54-52, Riots. To stop the clock, though, Bonny Eagle had no choice but to foul, and since Hyland had the ball, Hyland ended up at the line. He didn’t miss.

When the buzzer sounded, the Riots bench flooded onto the floor, celebrating a thrilling triumph.

“It’s been a long time since South Portland won a regional title,” Conley said. “20 years. I’m happy for our team, my coaches, I’m happy for the school. I’m happy for the city of South Portland. They stayed with me, stayed with our program, have been so supportive. This is a city championship.”

Bonny Eagle finishes its season seniors George Hazelton, Jon Thomas, CJ Autry and Kyle Wright retire without a regional title, let alone a state championship. But perhaps they don’t retire unsatisfied with their indispensable contributions to a relatively young Bonny Eagle team that promises to remain a contender.

Cole, a junior, will have another shot at the title next year. As he is only likely to get better between now and then, the rest of Western Maine and Eastern Maine had best watch out. As it was, he scored 36 and set a tournament record Saturday night, for most free-throws.

Now the Riots move on to face Hampden for the state crown.

“We drove down last night, a couple of us, to see it,” Carr said. “It was a crazy game. Hampden’s a good team. They have a lot of good players.”

Calvin Carr, Connor MacVane, John Tolan, Tanner Hyland and Trevor Borelli, all South Portland seniors.
Bonny Eagle’s Dustin Cole and South Portland’s Tanner Hyland go head-to-head Saturday night.
South Portland’s Trevor Borelli dodges Bonny Eagle’s Zach Dubiel on his way to the basket.
South Portland’s Calvin Carr shoulders Scots co-captain CJ Autry out of reach of the ball on his way to the basket Saturday night.
Scot co-captain Dustin Cole, all 5-foot-9 of him, somehow avoids 6-foot-7 South Portland giant Jon Tolan (23) on his way to the basket.
South Portland captain Calvin Carr gets a hand on Bonny Eagle’s Dustin Cole as Cole barrels up the court Saturday night.
South Portland senior Trevor Borelli guards Bonny Eagle junior Dustin Cole in their teams’ Western Maine Class A final Saturday night.
South Portland celebrates a close victory over Bonny Eagle immediately following the final buzzer.
Opening tip-off at the Western Maine Class A Boys Basketball final Saturday night. South Portland defeated Bonny Eagle 56-52.
South Portland captain Calvin Carr waves the spoils of war. That’s a mouth guard, lodged behind his ear.
South Portland senior Connor MacVane explodes upward from a circle of Bonny Eagle defenders.
South Portland seniors Calvin Carr and John Tolan hug after their hard-fought defeat of Bonny Eagle Saturday night.
Members of the South Portland boys’ basketball team embrace following their win over Bonny Eagle Saturday night.
South Portland players, including captain Calvin Carr (10), receive their individual awards.
The South Portland Red Riots, with their coaches, manager and award.
6-foot-7 South Portland behemoth John Tolan.