AUGUSTA — No team gets to the semifinals of the boys’ basketball tournament nine consecutive years without some end-of-game drama.
In keeping that streak alive on Thursday night, Edward Little might have outdone itself.
The Red Eddies rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final minute of regulation, capped by layups from Jarod Norcross Plourde and CJ Jipson that sealed a 46-43 Class AA North quarterfinal victory over Cheverus at Augusta Civic Center
Jipson and Plourde scored all 10 points in the closing flourish for No. 4 EL (11-8), which earned a date with top-seeded Portland at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“It’s a big win. Every year it’s something new,” Plourde said.
No. 5 Cheverus (9-10) kept Plourde under wraps for most of the night, but he scored 10 of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter.
The rally began innocently with two Jipson free throws at the minute mark, halting a 15-4 Cheverus run and cutting the Eddies’ deficit to 43-38.
“Everyone was patting each other on the back,” Jipson said. “When it was 43-36, Coach (Mike) Adams just kept saying, ‘We got this. Let’s keep rolling.’”
EL forced Cheverus to throw it away, and a third-chance bucket by Plourde made it a one-possession game with 38 seconds to go. Plourde then made his fifth steal of the night and delivered a layup to diminish the deficit to one.
Jack Casale, who led the Stags with 16 points, missed the front end of a one-and-one with 19.9 seconds remaining. EL sophomore point guard Tyler Morin, the smallest player on the court at 5-foot-8, grabbed the rebound and rifled an outlet pass to Plourde.
Plourde saw something upon which he hadn’t lain eyes most of the night — a clear lane to the basket — and took advantage to put EL in front.
“The last score with Jarod, I was thinking, ‘OK, what can we run for a play? We’ve got plenty of time for a timeout. Let’s get the ball inside.’ Then I saw him just turn the corner,” Adams said. “We’re young. We haven’t been in that situation at all.”
Cheverus called timeout to set up what it hoped would be a game-winning answer, with Casale inbounding the ball to Austin Boudreau.
Jipson anticipated the play, intercepted the ball in stride and dribbled in for an uncontested basket as time expired.
“We saw Casale inbounding it, and I knew Boudreau was the other guy to go to,” Jipson said. “Big games call for big plays, and I just took a chance. Boudreau shot well all night, so we wanted to try to make a play on the inbounds (pass) so he didn’t get a shot.”
His coach made the situation sound even more urgent, despite the apparent luxury of having the lead.
“As a coach, your nightmare is seeing Casale or Boudreau hit a 30-foot shot,” Adams said. “You know it’s going to go in, because that’s the way the game had gone. You knew if they got a catch, they were going to make it, so CJ saved the day at the end.”
EL held Boudreau to six points on two 3-pointers, and none after the 4:22 mark of the third quarter.
Andrew Roberts registered nine of his 11 points for Cheverus in the fourth quarter, all from close range. He scored seven during an 11-0 run that staked the Stags to a 39-32 lead with two minutes left.
EL’s Samatar Iman put up seven of his nine points in the second period. The Eddies closed the first half with a 10-2 spurt, taking a 21-15 advantage into the locker room, and enjoyed tenuous control throughout the third period.
Plourde scored the Eddies’ first six points of the half, capped by a baseline jumper that produced a 27-19 cushion with 4:51 to go. It was more than 10 minutes before EL notched another field goal.
“I think I was doubting myself a little bit,” Plourde said. “(The key) was getting the ball inside and not fading away when I shot.”
“Portland schools are athletic,” Jipson added. “It was hard to get the ball inside, but Jarod stepped up in the second half and took it on.”
It was the first meeting for EL and Cheverus since the 2010 Class A state championship. The Stags won on the court, but the Maine Principals’ Association later vacated the title after it deemed Cheverus star Indiana Faithfull ineligible. EL last won a Gold Ball in 1946.
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