CA boys fall to Forest Hills
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
BANGOR — The Central Aroostook Panthers’ bid for a seventh state championship since 1994 was foiled Saturday by a scrappy Forest Hills squad.
Staff photo/Joseph Cyr
CHANDLER BREWER of the Central Aroostook Panthers looks to score, while Forest Hills’ teammates Evan Worster and Ryan Petrin (5) play defense. The Tigers won Saturday’s D boys state title, 55-48. 
CA got off to a slow start, not making its first field goal until 12 seconds remained in the first period, and never held a lead during the game while falling, 55-48, in the Class D title game played at the Bangor Auditorium.
The Tigers were up 7-1, but the Panthers fought back and tied the game on three occasions during the second period. Sophomore guard Chandler Brewer was CA’s offensive star in that second quarter, scoring nine of his team’s 16 points in the frame. His three-pointer at the 4:45 mark knotted the game at 14 and his layup 1-1/2 minutes later made it 16-16.
Reserve guard Alex Folsom, also a sophomore, drained a three-pointer with 1:46 left before intermission for the final points of the quarter, forcing a 19-all deadlock.
The start of the third period was owned by the Jackman-based Tigers, who went on an 11-2 run over the first 3:58. Leading the way was 6-3 senior center Evan Worster, a Maine Mr. Basketball semifinalist who scored five of his 10 points during the rally. A backdoor layup by Forest Hills sophomore Ryan Petrin capped the flurry.
Brewer went down on the court after being inadvertently kneed in the head, an injury which occurred during a scramble for the ball at midcourt. He left the game for approximately 2-1/2 minutes, with his return sparking a CA comeback. Folsom hit another three and senior Joe Stiles made one himself and was fouled on the play. His ensuing free throw cut the Tiger lead to 30-29 with 1:28 left in the quarter.
Forest Hills responded by scoring the final six points of the period, with Brandon Ouellette’s buzzer-beating three giving his team a 36-29 advantage.
“We wanted to try to get the lead and get the momentum, but it never happened,” Stiles said.
The Panthers stayed in contention behind Brewer, who scored seven points in the quarter. His baseline drive and layup with 4:33 to play put CA within three at 43-40. However, the Panthers then went on a scoring drought and Forest Hills sealed the win from the foul line by hitting eight, six by senior Derick Ouellette, in the final 3:29.
Brewer ended up with 23 points to lead CA. The senior starters, Decker and Stiles, finished with eight and seven, respectively.
“Their intensity made them a tough matchup,” Decker said. “They were very physical and it took us off our game.”
“Forest Hills was very aggressive and we just couldn’t get anything going on offense,” Stiles said. “We weren’t executing and we couldn’t get our shots to go down.”
Matt Turner netted 16 points, while Derick Ouellette scored 13 and Petrin had 10 points and 10 rebounds to pace Forest Hills.
“Hats off to Central Aroostook,” said Tiger coach Anthony Amero, whose team won its first-ever state championship after finishing as runners-up to Jonesport-Beals in 2012. “They had a great gameplan … they do a lot of things similar to us like changing defenses. He [coach Tim Brewer] did a great job keeping us on our heels all day — we didn’t have a lot of answers against his defense.
“But our kids just hung in there all game. We knew Chandler Brewer would make some runs, and Decker too, but we just tried to contain them the best we could and keep their other three starters off the scoresheet as much as we could, and I think we did that.”
The Panthers finished with an overall record of 17-6. They had a strong start to the regular season and were ranked No. 1 on several occasions through mid-January, but then hit a tailspin and dropped four in a row late in the campaign before bouncing back to beat Katahdin on the road heading into the playoffs.
CA, the No. 3 seeded team in the final Heal Point rankings, then played three overtime games in the post-season, defeating No. 14 Schenck in the prelim after trailing by 13 entering the fourth quarter, and also needing extra time to get past No. 2 Washburn in the Eastern Maine semifinals and No. 5 Hodgdon in the finals.
“We came together and had a lot of players step up at the end,” Stiles said. “We really proved a lot of people wrong.”
“We found our games and leadership toward the end of the season, and our guys showed a lot of heart and just wanted it,” Decker added.
