BANGOR, Maine — Camden Hills of Rockport’s unbeaten march through the Eastern Maine Class B boys basketball scene has been in great part a celebration of team defense.
So the Windjammers decided to host a block party Saturday while winning the program’s seventh regional title in the last 12 years.
Sophomore center Tyler McFarland anchored a stifling defense that blocked 11 shots and limited Rockland to 25 percent shooting from the field as top-seeded Camden Hills rolled to a 62-37 win over the third-seeded Tigers in the Eastern B final at the Bangor Auditorium.
The Windjammers (21-0) blocked or tipped more than 20 percent of Rockland’s 48 shot attempts and will next play Western Maine champion Cape Elizabeth for the state title Friday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.
“Our whole defensive strategy is just having a lot of pressure on the ball,” said McFarland. “We really like to split the court in half and have most of our men on the ball side, and that provides a lot of help for the guy guarding the ball so when they penetrate we’re going to have help right there and that’s where we get our blocks most of the time.
“Ball pressure is key because it causes turnovers and causes teams to be uncomfortable. We wanted them to be uncomfortable for the whole game.”
The 6-foot-5 McFarland led Camden Hills into its comfort zone with 15 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks, while 6-6 senior forward Gordon Fischer added 14 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and three assists as Camden Hills defeated its Midcoast rival for the fourth time this season.
“As a coach you usually don’t get all excited about blocked shots, but there were some tremendous defensive plays out there,” said Camden Hills coach Jeff Hart. “Our defense was great today. It was very active and disciplined, and they didn’t get many easy baskets. They didn’t get many good looks.”
McFarland had 11 points and five blocked shots in the first half alone.
“We talk before every game,” said Fischer, “and I told him you need to dominate the boards today and have it be your most dominating game all year, and he did just that. When he’s dominating the boards, we feed off that and that’s why we’re tough to beat, because teams don’t get second shots.”
Rockland (13-6) did hang around for a while, using offensive patience to stay within 26-20 on a jumper by Teel Ilvonen with 3:25 left in the first half.
But the Tigers then went scoreless for the next 7 minutes, 20 seconds and managed just one more field goal through the end of the third quarter.
By that time Camden Hills led 48-25.
“We wanted to keep the score low, and it worked when we were patient enough to play that way,” said Rockland coach Matt Breen. “Camden’s good at dictating the tempo and getting you out of your game plan, and in a big game like this we got a little excited and broke away from what we were trying to do.
“Then we found ourselves chasing, and when you start chasing you’re in trouble.”
Taylor Gartley added 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting for Camden Hills.
Ilvonen led Rockland with 10 points, including two 3-pointers to tie the Eastern B tournament record of 11 3-pointers set last year by Devin Gerrity of Maranacook of Readfield.
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