BANGOR, Maine — Forest Hills High School hadn’t had a legitimately tight game all season.
Their average halftime lead was 27 points and the closest contest was a 14-point win over Hyde in the Western Maine final. That meant the starters seldom played anywhere near 32 minutes.
On Saturday afternoon, the Tigers utilized their strength and experience to go the distance.
Senior Tanner Daigle scored six of his team’s points from close range during the pivotal fourth quarter, helping Forest Hills edge Fort Fairfield 51-45 in the Class D boys state title game at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
“(Coach Anthony Amero) told us it was going to be tight toward the end,” said senior Ryan Petrin, who led Forest Hills with a game-high 16 points and 14 rebounds.
“We knew we’d get them if we kept going into the paint,” added the 6-foot-3 forward.
Amero’s squad rode the talent and experience of four senior standouts to the program’s second title in three years.
Daigle, a 6-4 center, contributed 14 points and seven rebounds while senior guard Matt Turner finished with 11 points, four rebounds and three blocked shots as Forest Hills completed a perfect season at 22-0.
“We had a couple bigger, stronger kids that could get to the rim and I think that was the difference down the stretch,” said Amero, whose 2013 team had won the Class D crown at the Bangor Auditorium.
Eastern Maine champion Fort Fairfield (18-5) was unable to overcome some turnover woes and ultimately could not match Forest Hills’ physical presence under the basket.
Sophomore Chris Giberson paced first-year coach Logan McLaughlin’s ballclub with 15 points, freshman Isaac Cyr netted 11 and senior Hunter Beaulieu chipped in with nine points and nine boards.
“They’re big, they’re tough and they’re aggressive,” McLaughlin said.
“They were letting you play pretty physical, so if you’re not as strong as them and they can muscle you around a little bit,” you’re in trouble, he added.
Realizing that his team would be superior to many of its opponents and that he wouldn’t be able to play his regulars for full games this season, Amero found ways to challenge the squad. The Tigers scrimmaged Hebron Academy and Kents Hill and played some of their regular-season games at Thomas College in Waterville which, like those used for Maine’s tournaments, is college length (94 feet).
“Our concern was that our starters didn’t play a lot of minutes,” Amero said.
“We said, what have we got to do to go a step further and be at a little higher level?” he added.
Forest Hills took the lead for good early in the fourth quarter on Turner’s 3-pointer, then added two Dawson Daigle free throws to go up 37-33 with 5:47 remaining.
Fort Fairfield hung tough, but could not get closer than two the rest of the way.
Forest Hills was able to get the ball underneath both with entry passes and via dribble penetration. Down the stretch, Tanner Daigle was a beast near the basket.
He scored off a Petrin pass to make it 39-35, then answered Giberson’s 7-footer from the baseline by converting another feed from Petrin on a cut to the basket. A driving layup by senior Brandon Ouellette pushed the advantage to six points with 2:59 left.
Forest Hills outscored Fort Fairfield 11-1 from the foul line, going 6-for-8 in the final period.
“We’ve been playing together for so long,” Tanner Daigle said.
“We (seniors) just became the ‘Fab 4’ because we know each other so well and we played together,” he added.
Fort Fairfield countered as freshman Isaac Cyr drained a 3-pointer and Beaulieu answered a close-range bucket by Petrin with a rebound hoop, but Forest Hills scored the next five points to put the game out of reach.
“I think it all just came down to we didn’t take care of the ball well and their defense and physicality really did us in,” McLaughlin said.
