PITTSFIELD, Maine — Georgios Papapetrou is not a top-100 prep school player, he’s not an imposing physical specimen on the basketball court with an NBA body, and he doesn’t even know where — or even if — he’ll be playing college ball next year.
But the 6-foot-4 guard from Athens — Greece, not Maine — knew where his shot was going when he let fly a 3-pointer from the right side of the top of the key with one second left in overtime Wednesday afternoon.
Papapetrou’s 3-pointer gave his Maine Central Institute postgrads a 73-70 overtime victory over Lee Academy at Wright Gymnasium.
“I saw the clock, and I was open so I took the shot,” said Papapetrou, who hopes to catch the eyes of college scouts and earn a scholarship somewhere.
Huskies teammate Levan Shengelia doesn’t have to attract attention. He’s already signed to play for the University of Rhode Island.
The 6-9 Shengelia was a one-man matchup problem for the Pandas as he led the 6-7 Huskies with 22 points and 10 rebounds. He also had three assists and two steals.
“I had nobody who could guard him and he did a nice job playing with foul trouble,” said Lee coach Jim Graffam, whose Pandas are now 15-13.
Shengelia had 17 points and eight rebounds after halftime.
“He’s very strong inside and he’s going to make plays for us,” said MCI coach Dave Campbell. “He’s not a high-riser at 255-260 pounds, but he knows how to use his hands inside.”
Lee led by 10 points with 9½ minutes left in regulation after outscoring MCI 15-1 over a six-minute span in the second half, but the Huskies would answer with a 15-4 run of their own to go up 54-53, and then go up 60-55 with 4:14 to go.
Lee would score the next seven points before Igor Lebov hit a shot that just missed being a 3-pointer from the right corner with five seconds left in regulation to tie it up. Lee was unable to get a last-ditch shot off and overtime ensued.
Lee hit a 3-pointer to start overtime, but MCI would outscore the Pandas 8-2 over the next 3½ minutes. De’Angelo Speech’s 3-pointer from the left corner tied it with 34 seconds left and set up the dramatic finish.
With seven seconds to go, Lebov took a 3-point shot from the wing and missed. Shengelia grabbed the rebound, looked for a shot, and dished it to the corner to Papapetrou.
The teams combined for 48 turnovers in a game that had no sustained offensive flow by either team.
“Any time it’s prep basketball, it’s a turnover game and it winds up going to the team that turns the ball over less for the most part,” said Graffam.
With 22 total, the Huskies proved Graffam right.
“I think defensively, both teams did a real good job today,” said Campbell. “I think our defense is really coming on with people playing the way we want them to play.
“We’re not as talented and athletic as most teams so we have to get games going in a certain tempo and we’re doing a good job with that.”
Lee did outrebound MCI (47-41 overall), but shot slightly worse from the field at 35.7 percent (MCI shot 37.3).
“We didn’t rebound at the end and in a game like this, those lesser things are more and more important,” said Graffam. “We turned the ball over and couldn’t quite find seams quickly enough in that 1-3-1 they threw at us. It bothered us quite a bit.”
Steven Roundtree had a solid game for MCI with 17 points, 13 rebounds, five steals and three assists. Lebov finished with 14 points and six boards.
Speech led the Pandas with 18 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and four assists. Charles Brown came off the bench to score 12 points.
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