AUBURN — The ball bounced on the court after St. Dom’s senior Zak Johnson missed the front half of a one-and-one in the waning seconds of Thursday’s Mountain Valley Conference boys’ basketball contest.

None of the four Wiscasset players moved, with Johnson realizing the situation and darting for the ball.

But, he had a long way to go. Wiscasset’s Travis Padilla pounced, and sent a long pass to Wolverines freshman JD Souza, who hoisted up a last-second 3-pointer.

In a blur, the Wolverines jumped for joy as Souza’s shot rattled home, giving Wiscasset a stunning 43-42 victory.

“I blame myself for that,” St. Dom’s coach Todd Flaherty said. “I took the guys off the line and if I would have had them there, I think they would have grabbed the ball, or at the very least slowed them down a little bit. I think the kids did enough to win.”

“JD is a very confident freshman, and I told him before the game to go full speed,” said Wiscasset coach Dana Lawrence, whose team hosts Lisbon on Monday. “He was fortunate to get the shot off. I just don’t want him to worry about making mistakes, and today he went out and performed.”

The Wolverines battled back from a 12-turnover first half during which both teams struggled to find a rhythm on the offensive end. St. Dom’s led 16-13 at the half, making just seven of 32 shots.

“We had a lot of looks in the first half, and I thought we were lucky to be where we were at the half after taking the shots that we did,” Flaherty said. “I give the kids credit for hanging in there. We had a shot.”

But, in the end it was Souza who hit when it counted, scoring all seven of his points in the fourth quarter, including the winner.

“We ran our play in transition and it worked out well,” Souza said  of the winning shot. “It was awesome. I haven’t felt anything like that before. I knew I had to get the shot off and get the best shot that I could. This is a big win and motivates us, considering we have such a young team. This will help us advance a little bit more.”

The victory comes just three days after the Wolverines were defeated by Hall-Dale, 68-55, and with the Bulldogs falling to previously-winless Monmouth on Wednesday, the MVC appears to be wide open.

“The middle of this conference, anybody can beat anybody on any given night and that showed tonight,” Lawrence said. “Night in, night out, 95 percent of these teams can play and you just won’t have a night off. I expect games like this all season long.”

“We play five games in eight days, a tough stretch, something we will have to get through before getting into a good stretch of practices,” Flaherty said.

Slow start

Both teams seemed stuck in the mud in the first half. St. Dom’s trailed 4-2 with 2:41 left in the opening quarter, but outscored the Wolverines 7-2 to close the frame for a 9-6 lead.

St. Dom’s again struggled in the second quarter, going scoreless for six minutes and watching Wiscasset run off five straight points for an 11-9 lead, with Padilla scoring four points. The Saints answered, running off a 7-2 run for a 16-13 halftime lead.

“We kept kicking ourselves in the pants,” said Lawrence, whose team made just four of 16 shots and allowed nine offensive boards to the Saints. “We had many opportunities of catching the ball in control, but we were trying to do too many things too quickly.”

Unlike the first two quarters, St. Dom’s took control early in the second half. Johnson scored seven of his game-high 14 points in the third quarter, including a short jumper for a 24-17 lead.

This time Wiscasset battled back, with Dylan McMahon scoring four points, and Padilla and Chandler Longfellow three each to get the Wolverines within shouting distance, 30-26 through 24 minutes.

Wiscasset’s run continued into the fourth quarter. Souza tied the game at 32, and Padilla’s putback gave the Wolverines their first lead since the second quarter, 34-32, moments later.

Johnson found Matt Dyer alone in the corner for a 3-pointer for a 35-34 Saints advantage, and the lead changed hands three more times down the stretch, setting up Souza’s winning shot.

“They all think that they can play with the best, which is good, but we have to play as a team and do the things that we work on,” Lawrence said.

Johnson dished out seven assists and picked up four steals, while Michael Bryant chipped in seven points, and Eric Ulin and Dyer six each. Madison Jalbert and Nick Hatfield each had seven rebounds as the Saints finished with a 31-30 edge on the boards.

McMahon paced Wiscasset with a double-double — 11 points and 10 rebounds — while Padilla had 10 points and four steals. On the boards, Dale Peaslee had seven rebounds, while Austin Haskell picked up three steals.

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