February 1 — “The game was surreal,” says Hayden MacArthur.
After the Rangers’ 117-115 eight-overtime win over Freiburg Academy, Greeley High School seniors reflected on a day when the state’s basketball scene was making headlines on social media even before the game was finally over. rice field.
“Every muscle hurts. It hurts 10 times more than a normal match,” McArthur, a security guard, said. “It felt like a maniacal dream.”
Although no official Maine high school basketball record is kept, many observers believe it to be the longest game in Maine’s men’s basketball history.
A high school basketball game consists of four eight-minute quarters, but with eight four-minute overtime periods, teams have 0.6 seconds remaining after playing twice as long as a regular game on Tuesday night. Greeley’s Cade Ippolito won the final with a short jumper.
“My phone is probably exploding from the third or fourth overtime,” Greeley coach Travis Seaver said. It’s hard to believe.”
The National Federation of High School Athletic Associations records list the longest high school basketball game in the nation on February 29, 1964, when Boone Trail defeated Angie 56-54 in 13 overtime games. It is
The list of “Most Overtime” in the NFHS Record Book includes several 8-game overtime games. Chris Boone, assistant director of publishing and communications for the NFHS, said the NFHS has no record of him playing more than eight overtime games in Maine, but the website’s list of overtime games lists him in 1994. He said subsequent games were not included.
Tuesday’s Greeley-Fryberg numbers were staggering. The team scored a total of 232 points through eight overtime games. Gunnar Saunders scored 40, Lorenzo Katana Barlemani scored 29 and 21 for Freiburg, Tyler Pettengill scored 39, and Seamus Raftis (23) and Ethan Michaud (21) also scored 20 or more for Greeley.
“This game had it all. We had buzzer beaters, missed layups, missed free throws, just big shots from both sides and big plays from both sides,” Seaver said. A phone call was made. It really had everything.”
Freiberg coach Dan Thomas has never seen anything quite like what happened Tuesday night.
“It’s the craziest game I’ve ever been in, and it doesn’t even come close,” Thomas said. “It was the best ever….The execution and shot-making ability was something I hadn’t seen at the high school level.
Such a finish seemed unlikely as Greeley led by 10 points in the last two minutes of regulation, but Freiberg’s rally forced overtime and kick-started the marathon finish. Dramatic moments kept it going. Pettengill hit two tying 3-pointers in the final seconds of overtime, including one off balance at the buzzer, sending the game to a 100-drawn sixth overtime.
“It was a crazy shot. It was a shock,” Pettengill said. “It made me realize, ‘Hey, we’re still at this.’ “
The game seemed to swing with each play as extra time dragged on.
“When we shoot, they come down and shoot, so every bucket you made seemed to matter,” Sanders said. “Every possession was tight.”
Seaver and Thomas said they lost track of which overtime they were working. So did the players.
“Even after the buzzer beats and the excitement, I sit down and say, ‘Okay,’ and take a deep breath,” says Raftice. Say to yourself, “Four more minutes, four more minutes.”
Finally, Ippolito drove to the basket, pump faked, and sank the shot close just before the 9th overtime buzzer went off. Celebrations began and had to pause until his 0.6s were placed on the board.
“As the game went on, you thought someone was going to make a big play on the other side,” Seaver said. The big thing is….the fact that our guys have this in their pockets, and the flyberg too, it’s something special..nobody i know has feelings like that You can not.”
A chance to make up for Ippolito (10 points). The sophomore had missed his seventh straight free throw, including his sixth in overtime. But he was ready because he had a chance to win the match.
“It was such an amazing moment that I will never forget,” he said. “I was thinking[of the free throw]in my head, but Seaver said, ‘Forget it and move on.’ I got the job done.”
Six players, three on each team, have fouled and the coaches have found themselves trying to find ways to squeeze out their remaining energy.
“I kept asking them, ‘Are you tired, do you need a submarine?'” Thomas said. “And they all looked at me and said, ‘If you take me out, I’m not going to greet you in the hallway again.
“I said, ‘Give me another[property]give me another.’ They gave me another 607.”
The players were on adrenaline.
“I wasn’t too tired after the game. I was still excited,” Pettengill said. “I had so much adrenaline that I ended up going to bed at 4:30 am.”
The Greeley-Fryburg match immediately evokes memories of South Portland’s 5-overtime 81-79 victory over Bangor in the 1992 Class A championship game then played at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland. I was.
“You must have been asked five times today about that five overtime game,” said Tony DeBiase, 69, who coached South Portland in 1992.
“Playing eight of them is crazy,” says DiBiase.
In 1986, Dexter’s men defeated Rockland 63-61 in five extra innings in the Eastern Class B final at the old Bangor Auditorium. The match didn’t start until nearly 10:45pm. This was because Paul had a leak in the roof of the old arena next to his Bunyan statue and the match didn’t end until after midnight.
Portland coach Joe Russo and South Portland coach Kevin Millington in front of a packed house at Cross Insurance Arena during the 2016 classic, which Portland won 52-50. It was part of the class AA championship game in overtime twice.
“I had a few doubles, but nothing close to eight,” Russo said.
“How do you coach so much overtime?” Millington said. “I don’t think we’re going to sit the guy down for the second overtime because we might need him for the eighth.
Staff writer Steve Craig contributed to this story.
