If last Saturday’s North regional championship was any indication, the East Millinocket fans are likely to pack the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor once again as their Wolverines play in the Class D boys state championship.
“We travel well,” coach Aaron Hutchins said after Schenck won the regional title last weekend. “That’s all regular season too. We go to Machias, we go to Greenville, we’ve got more fans than the other team. It’s just a little different. It’s a basketball town. It always has been, it always will be.”
As the top-seeded team in Class D North, the Millinocket boys have been looking to bounce back after a tough tourney ouster last season against Bangor Christian. They used that loss as motivation, and avoided a repeat by downing the Bangor Christian Patriots in the semifinals.
The Wolverines followed that win up with another victory over Katahdin in the regional final.
“We just had to get it done,” said senior forward Owen Wyman, who also took home the Class D MVP in the Bangor Daily News all-tournment team balloting. Wyman was also appreciative of the East Millinocket fans after the regional title game.
“It’s amazing to see everyone show up today, and hopefully they come back Saturday to join us again,” Wyman said.
Saturday’s game will be at 2:45 p.m. at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor against Class D South regional champion St. Dominic of Auburn.
Joining Wyman on the North all-tournament team is Wolverine junior guard Brayden Osborne. He was asked about both the Schenck girls and boys playing in the regional finals last weekend, and what that meant for the town as a whole.
Osborne said the girls team, which lost the Class D North championship to Central Aroostook, “exceeded expectations” with its performance this season.
“Everyone’s proud of them, and I feel like everyone is probably proud of us. It’s great,” Osborne said, agreeing that the pride gives the Wolverines fuel heading into the state final. “We’re going to get to work this week, get back in the lab and we’ll be playing here again Saturday.”
In a post-game interview after the regional win, senior Sam Jacobs said it “feels good to come back and finally get that plaque in our hands” after last year’s disappointing end.
“It’s been a ride, but as a senior, it’s our last run, and we’re trying to make the most of it,” Jacobs added.
And the community has been along for the ride, too.
“We have had so much community support,” Hutchins said.
The boys coach isn’t the only member of his family adding to East Millinocket’s basketball legacy. He’s married to Kirsten Hutchins, the girls coach who led the Wolverines on their own impressive tournament run.
Kirsten Hutchins provided a notable moment of good sportsmanship during the tournament, in an exchange with Bangor Christian girls coach Kevin Reed after Schenck knocked out the top-seeded Patriots.
“We’re a basketball family, a basketball town, and this is icing on the cake,” Aaron Hutchins said after the North regional championship. “It really is.”
