PARIS — If you want to see strength against strength, athleticism against athleticism, there won’t be a much better exhibition than the final eight seconds of boys’ basketball overtime Tuesday night between Oxford Hills and Lewiston.
And even though it was one-against-three, the Vikings’ strength, which answers to the name Andrew Fleming, came out on top.
Rather than pull up and let it fly, as was designed in the preceding timeout, Fleming slashed around the Blue Devils’ Isaiah Harris and Quintarian Brown and unleashed a scoop shot around the flailing hands of 6-foot-10 center Trever Irish.
It rattled opposite sides of the rim before falling through at the horn to give Oxford Hills a 48-46 victory in the crazy-competitive KVAC.
“First it was supposed to be a jumper, like at the foul line, but I saw the lane,” said Fleming, who finished with game-highs of 22 points and 16 rebounds to go along with four assists.
Tyus Ripley added 16 points, nine rebounds and four steals for Oxford Hills (7-5), while Patrick Macro (10 rebounds, four blocked shots, three steals) was sensational defensively despite giving up seven inches of height to Irish.
Irish led Lewiston (6-6) with 14 points, 13 rebounds and six swats. Quintarian Brown scored eight of his 10 points in the fourth quarter and added four steals. Harris and Ryan Bell each chipped in eight points, with Harris latching onto nine rebounds and Bell supplying six thefts.
“I didn’t think anybody lost the game. I think they won by two,” Lewiston coach Tim Farrar said. “I thought we defended (Fleming) well the whole game, and even that shot was amazing. We had two of the best athletes in the state and one of the tallest kids in the state come up, and he was able to scoop it in. If it had gone right in, we would have had two seconds, but it had to bounce around and just end the game and take your heart out.”
It was the typical full-tilt, physical, close contest between the tri-county rivals. Oxford Hills led throughout until Harris’ hoop off a dish from Bell knotted it at 26 with 4:43 remaining in the third quarter.
There were seven more ties down the stretch.
“They’re our closest rival,” Macro said. “We just play as hard as we can against them, definitely.”
Ripley and Fleming combined for the Vikings’ first eight points of the fourth quarter, capped by Fleming’s fast break bucket off Ripley’s steal, to make it 38-33 with 5:49 to go.
Back stormed Lewiston, first on an Irish hook, then Brown’s 3-point play in a 24-second span. Lewiston answered the next four Oxford Hills baskets with one of its own. After Oxford Hills missed the front end of a one-and-one in the final minute, Brown’s bucket by way of the offensive glass evened it at 44.
The Devils had the final shot of regulation after a bizarre exchange of dead-ball turnovers on inbounds plays, but Bell’s shot missed the mark and fell into the hands of Macro at the buzzer.
“Lewiston’s a tough team for us,” Oxford Hills coach Scott Graffam said. “They’re seniors. They play like seniors. We’re mostly juniors. It’s a tough match-up for us, but Andrew and Tyus are a tough matchup for them, too.”
Fleming grabbed two offensive boards before drawing a foul and sinking two free throws to break the ice in overtime. Irish supplied the response down low with two minutes to go.
That was it for scoring until Fleming’s heroics, with two missed free throws sabotaging the Vikings and 1-for-4 shooting and a turnover costing the Devils.
Lewiston missed eight of its 10 free throws in the game.
“We executed our stuff. We got the shots we wanted. You’ve just got to make one of them,” Farrar said. “The league is nuts. That was seven and eight, and tell me we couldn’t get to the Eastern Conference final, the two of us. It’s like a cross country season. Just get to the finish line, get your seeds and go win the race.”
Fleming had 10 points in the first quarter, pushing the Vikings to a 16-6 lead out of the gate.
Lewiston scratched back with six points from Bell, four off turnovers, in what was a ragged remainder of the half. Brandon Martinez’s tip-in of a Ripley miss vaulted the Vikings to a 22-16 halftime edge.
The Vikings shut out Irish and Brown in the second quarter while holding Harris to a single bucket.
“I just tried to do my job and help out as best as I could on that big guy, just swat anything that came in, Macro said. “You’ve got to try to muscle him around as much as you can and get him as far away from the hoop as possible, so he has to take a long shot that probably won’t go in.”
Oxford Hills slowed the pace in the third quarter to overcome the final five minutes while point guard Blake Slicer was benched with three fouls.
Ripley put up six points in the quarter while Lewiston kept Fleming off the board.
“We could have done a better job,” Fleming said. “I think it was the turnovers. Without Blake in the game, it takes away our ball-handler, so everyone else had to step it up and make sure we don’t get turnovers.”
The Vikings survived 27 giveaways on the strength of a big play in a big spot by one of the state’s brightest stars.
“That was our stall, to let it roll around the rim,” Graffam quipped.
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