Maine State Championships Decided

New England Recruiting Report | Monday, March 1st, 2010

Cheverus Takes Class A

Indiana Faithful capped a triumphant return to his Cheverus team with a 23 point performance to defeat Edward Little and capture the championship with a 55-50 decision.  Cheverus led throughout and seemed on the verge of breaking the game open on a couple of different occasions but E.L. always clawed their way back in. 

Six-foot-five junior Griffin Brady also stepped up for Cheverus, knocking down three three-pointers and finishing with 13 points. 

Bo Leary led the Edward Little resurgence in the fourth quarter and scored a team high 19 points.  Jim Philbrook and Tim Mains also finished in double figures with 12 and 10 respectively. 

The state championship is Cheverus’ second in the last three years after capturing the gold ball in 2008.  Faithful is the only player to play on both teams.  Last year Cheverus suffered a disappointing end after losing to Thornton Academy in the semi-finals to ruin their perfect season. 

Faithful almost didn’t get the chance to lead his team to this year’s title after eligibility concerns stemming from his freshman season in Australia and Maine’s eight consecutive semester rule forced him out of action.  Cheverus was undefeated at the time of the decision and won four in a row without their captain and star point guard before dropping the regular season finale to South Portland.  Faithful made a dramatic return just in time for the state tournament when his family filed a lawsuit that accused the Maine Principal’s Association of discrimination based on Indiana’s country of origin was upheld. 

The rest as they say is history. 

Class B goes to Falmouth in Dramatic Fashion

Falmouth scored a dramatic overtime victory over Camden Hills, surviving a 34 point outburst from Tyler McFarland and managing to force the extra session after trailing at two different points in the final period.  The whistle would also play a huge role in this one as McFarland would foul out at the end of regulation and Falmouth star Stephano Mancini was forced to miss almost eight minutes of the second half because of foul trouble.  Mancini still managed to score a team high 27 points, including five three-pointers, and scored the go ahead bucket in overtime to lead his team to a 72-65 win.  Keegan Pieri added 16 points for Camden while Falmouth had four players score in double figures with Mancini (27), Ryan Rogers (14), Sam Horning (11), and Jack Roberts (11). 

Washington Academy Pulls Away Late in Class C

Senior guard Noah Von Rotz made the last three minutes of his high school career memorable ones, scoring 10 of his game high 22 points in that time and helping Washington Academy pull away from Dirigo for a 70-58 win.  Dirigo trailed for most of the game but cut it to three, 56-53, late before Von Rotz took over.  Ben Teer and Bryce Colbeth scored 20 and 18 points respectively for Washington Academy.  For Dirigo this was their second consecutive trip to the state finals.  They were led by Tyler Gates and Tyler Chiasson who finished with 14 points each. 

Theriaults Lead Schenck in Class D

Schenck opened the game with an 11-0 run and gradually pulled away for a 65-43 win over Richmond to capture the gold ball.  Eric Theriault scored a team high 20 points while matching a Class D finals record with five three-pointers.  Several of those three-pointers came care of his brother, Brandon Theriault, who used his quickness to penetrate and pitch to his brother while finishing with 14 points and 5 steals of his own.  For Richmond this was their fourth trip to the finals in the last five years.  They were led by big man Bruce Carver who finished with 12 points.