Feb. 19, 1988: In the final two minutes of the Eastern Maine Class B boys basketball championship game at the Bangor Auditorium, Ellsworth High School senior Tim Scott scores 13 points in 58 seconds, leading the Eagles to a 65-64 victory. The fourth-seeded Eagles’ opponent is third-seeded Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln.
After Scott’s 13-point run, which ties the game 63-63, the Eagles deliberately foul Mattanawcook player Mike Williams in a successful gamble to control the ball for the winning shot. Williams, a flawless shooter until this point in the game, lands only one of two shots from the foul line, making the score 63-64.
With the Eagles then in possession, Scott defies expectations. Rather than driving for the hoop to take the final shot himself, he passes the ball to senior forward Jason Sattler, who scores the winning two points with a layup.
The Eagles later lose the Class B state championship to Cape Elizabeth, 70-64.
Long after the Bangor Auditorium’s demolition in 2013, Maine basketball fans savor the memory of Scott’s “miracle minute” in the 1988 game there.
Scott would go on to play baseball for the University of Maine and for the Colorado Rockies organization, and last year was selected for induction into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame.
Scott is the youngest son of Jack Scott, also a former Ellsworth High School athlete and a member of both the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame and the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame.
Joseph Owen is a retired copy desk chief of the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal and board member of the Kennebec Historical Society. He can be contacted at: jowen@mainetoday.com.
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