BANGOR — Fifth-seeded Winslow did everything it could Wednesday night to slow top-ranked Camden Hills – to no avail.

Tyler McFarland scored 23 points to lead the unbeaten Windjammers to a 55-44 victory in an Eastern Class B semifinal at the Bangor Auditorium.

Camden Hills (20-0) will play second-seeded Ellsworth (20-0) for the regional title at 3:45 p.m. Saturday at Bangor.

The Windjammers are seeking their third consecutive regional title.

“If you were told at the beginning of the game that Camden was only going to score 55 tonight, I think we would have taken that,” Winslow Coach Scott Wood said. “We tried to slow them down a little bit but they are very good. There’s a reason why they’re undefeated.”

The Windjammers, who beat Winslow 74-48 on Jan. 11, never did get their running game going.

“Everybody prepares all year for this one chance, and they do everything they can to slow you down,” Camden Hills Coach Jeff Hart said. “Winslow did a great job against us and they didn’t go away. Obviously we like to get out and run, and (Winslow) did a great job of trying to keep us to a half-court game.”

“We didn’t come up with as much energy as we usually do,” McFarland said. “We talked before the game how some teams come out and play not to lose rather than going out and playing their own game. I think we were hesitant. We were playing not to lose rather than playing our game and playing to win.”

Both teams shot poorly in the first half, which ended with the Windjammers leading, 22-15.

In the first half, Camden Hills shot 8 of 28 (37.9 percent) and the Raiders were 6 of 24 (25 percent). But Winslow rebounded well enough off the defensive boards to stay relatively close to the Windjammers.

Camden Hills (19-0) then sank its first four shots of the third quarter to quickly move into a 32-18 lead.

The Windjammers gradually pulled away to a 42-22 advantage.

“It certainly helps to make a 3-(point shot) or two because that just opens it inside, but we struggled to put them away,” Hart said. “They kept hanging with us.”

Joel Gabriele scored 10 points for Camden Hills.

Mike McCann, who scored 11 of Winslow’s 15 points in the first half, wound up with 14. 

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com