Brewer and Oceanside of Rockland followed up their deep tournament runs during the high school basketball season by winning championships at the 29th annual Great Harbor Shootout held on Mount Desert Island.
Brewer captured the boys high school title by defeating Oceanside 72-54 in Sunday’s championship game while Oceanside topped Old Town 58-49 in the girls’ final.
The field of teams at the event was a bit smaller than usual after the event was canceled for the last two years due to COVID-19, but the action was just as intense as the Great Harbor Shootout welcomed 64 high school and middle-school teams to MDI over the weekend.
What has been one of the state’s largest postseason youth basketball tournaments — with a record 83 teams participating in 2019 — featured competition at four gymnasiums around MDI (MDI High School, MDI Elementary School, Pemetic Elementary School and the MDI YMCA) as well as at the Trenton Elementary School on the mainland.
Proceeds from the event benefit Harbor House, a nonprofit organization that serves the communities of Mount Desert Island.
Brewer, which reached the Class A North boys championship game this winter before bowing to eventual state champion Nokomis of Newport, jumped out to a 22-15 first-quarter lead against Oceanside and maintained that advantage to emerge victorious in the final of the Great Harbor Shootout’s 20-team boys high school field.
Brady Saunders led Brewer in the championship game with 21 points while Brock Flagg scored 14 and Aaron Newcomb added 13.
Cohen Galley paced Oceanside with 23 points, including five 3-pointers, while Carter Galley added 21 points with three 3-pointers.
Oceanside made 10 3-pointers during the contest compared with nine for Brewer.
Oceanside, the Class B state champion in girls basketball this winter, used 15 points apiece from Bailey Breen and Audrey Mackie and 12 from Abby Waterman to defeat Old Town in the girls final.
Sydney Loring paced Old Town with a game-high 20 points while Madelyn Emerson and Gabby Cody scored 10 points each.
The girls high school field also had 20 teams.
The tournament also crowned middle-school champions from fields of 12 girls teams and 12 boys teams.
The Old Town YMCA defeated Mattanawcook Academy 53-30 in the girls championship game, while Glenburn won the boys crown by edging the Down East Family YMCA of Ellsworth “A” team 51-49.