Oxford Hills’ Teigan Pelletier launches the jump shot that beat Edward Little in the Class AA North championship game on Feb. 26 in Portland. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

This story was first published on Feb. 26, 2022.

Oxford Hills grabbed the rebound off a John Shea missed free throw and got the ball to Teigan Pelletier, who did the rest.

Pelletier hit a pull-up jumper from 10 feet with four-tenths of a second remaining in overtime to give Oxford Hills a 48-47 win over top-seeded Edward Little in the Class AA North boys’ basketball championship game at Portland’s Cross Insurance Arena.

Pelletier missed a layup at the end of regulation that would have won the game for the second-seeded Vikings.

The shot wasn’t on Pelletier’s mind when he got another chance to win it.

“Tanner (Bickford) gave me the ball and in my head I said, ‘I’m going to shoot this.’ That’s really all it was,” Pelletier said of the final shot.

Edward Little’s Eli St. Laurent hit two free throws with 54 seconds left in overtime to put the Red Eddies up 47-42.

Cole Pulkkinen answered with four straight free throws, cutting the deficit to 47-46 with nine seconds remaining.

Shea was fouled with 7.5 seconds left but missed two free throws. Bickford rebounded the second miss and passed to Pelletier near midcourt. Pelletier drove to the right side and pulled up for a jumper that fell just before the buzzer sounded.

Edward Little quickly called a timeout, and the clock was reset to 0.4 seconds left, but the inbounds pass hit the scoreboard.

Pelletier, who also beat Bangor in the quarterfinals with a 3-pointer in the closing seconds, finished with 24 points. Shea led the Red Eddies with 15.

“We’re lucky,” said Oxford Hills Coach Scott Graffam. “John Shea doesn’t miss two free throws ever in his life. He was tired, I’m sure. We face-guarded him and he had to work hard for every point he had. Fatigue may have been an issue, but I’m not blaming it on that. Cole hits two big free throws and Teigan hits the shot at the buzzer.”

To Edward Little Coach Mike Adams, whose team had won two of the previous three Class AA state championships, Saturday’s game was proof of how difficult winning in the late stages of the tournament can be.

“I’m proud of all these kids,” Adams said. “To get to the semifinals, anything can happen. Get to the regional game, you’re going to play someone good, and then we played with someone good.

“I’ve been here 21 years and only won twice, but some teams don’t win any. Troy Barnies played his whole career and didn’t win a playoff game. We worked for the year we had, but it’s hard when it ends.”

After a slow first quarter in which there was nine total points, Edward Little and Oxford Hills started to find the range.

Marshal Adams hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter for the Eddies, who went into the break with an 18-16 lead.

Pelletier then scored his team’s first eight points of the second half and finished with 12 in the third quarter as Oxford Hills built a 33-27 lead.

Edward Little’s Hamza Sheikh opened the fourth with two baskets first – a layup off a steal and then a putback. Shea followed with two free throws, and a 3-pointer from Pat Anthoine with 4:25 to play gave the Red Eddies a 36-33 advantage.

Pelletier answered with a 3-pointer of his own, and Pulkkinen put the Vikings back in front with two free throws before Shea and Sheikh each hit one free throw to tie the game at 38-38.

Oxford Hills then held the ball for a final shot in regulation, but Pelletier missed.

In overtime, and Adams 3-pointer was followed by a Pelletier layup. Shea made a layup on the next possession, putting Edward Little ahead 43-40.