HERMON, Maine — Tyler Beaton had spent most of his evening as a facilitator, but when the Hermon boys basketball team needed it late in its game against Central of Corinth on Friday night, he evolved into the ultimate finisher.
The 6-foot-1-inch junior guard scored the Hawks’ final 10 points, including a game-winning jumper from the left baseline with five seconds remaining to lift Hermon to a hard-fought 55-53 victory over the previously undefeated Red Devils.
“Coach (Mark Reed) called a play with about 20 seconds left and I went to get the ball, and Joe (Plummer) came and set the ball screen and went the other way and I saw there wasn’t much time left so I stepped back and shot it,” said Beaton, who finished with 16 points and eight assists.
The win was the third straight for Class B Hermon since a season-opening loss to Ellsworth.
But it surely didn’t come easily against a determined Central squad that entered the game atop the Eastern Maine Class C standings with a 6-0 record.
Hermon threatened to run away with the game early in the second half, but Central rallied all the way back from a 16-point deficit to forge a 53-53 tie on Grant Poulin’s 3-pointer from the right of the key with 41 seconds remaining.
“We knew they were going to be good,” said Plummer, a senior forward who scored a game-high 29 points, “and they were.”
Hermon then worked the ball patiently with its next possession until Beaton received the ball to the left of the key. He surveyed the court and saw open space along the baseline, then drove there before fading away from a defender with a 15-foot jumper to restore the Hawks to the lead.
Central got a timeout with 2.8 seconds left, with a subsequent 3-point attempt from the left wing near halfcourt by Caleb Shaw coming up short.
“I give the kids a lot of credit for enduring a little adversity because we had a stretch where we didn’t play particularly well in terms of ball possession,” said Reed. “But they were able to keep their composure and continue to play, and it was a good step for us in terms of developing a little bit of toughness. The kids found a way to win.”
Junior forward Kyle Ham scored 19 points — including 14 after intermission — to pace Central, which trailed by as much as 39-23 midway through the third quarter.
Shaw then fed Ham for a low-post basket and Jordan Smith for a layup, and Ham followed with a layup off a Hermon turnover for a quick six-point run that gave Central renewed confidence.
And with Hermon accumulating some foul trouble — including Plummer, who had scored 20 first-half points as the Hawks got inside the Central defense for high-percentage shots — the Red Devils kept coming.
Junior guard Andrew Prescott (14 points) hit a 3-pointer and drove the lane for a three-point play to pull Central within 43-38 by the end of the third quarter. The Red Devils then clawed within 45-44 when Ham tipped away a Hermon pass on the defensive end and scored in transition off another assist by Shaw with 5:50 to play.
“We didn’t run any different offenses, we just executed instead of throwing the ball around,” said Central coach Curt Davis, whose team had made just 5 of 20 shots while falling behind 32-19 at intermission. “People were setting screens, we were getting open and then we tried a little halfcourt (defense) and that’s a few turnovers that went in our favor.
“Then we got our confidence back, and once that happened we tried to chip away and put ourselves in a position where we could be in it at the end.”
But with Plummer sidelined with four fouls, Beaton answered Central’s comeback hopes by making his final five shots of the game — including the deciding shot of the game.”
“When Joe got in foul trouble I felt like we were going to lose a big part of our scoring so I needed to step up and be a big contributor for the team,” said Beaton.
