Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

Middleton Regional High School won Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton. The MRHS Monarchs defeated Kings Edgehill in preliminary action to make it to the final.

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MIDDLETON, N.S. —

It went down to the buzzer, but Middleton Regional High School Monarchs managed to hang onto a one-point lead for 6.8 seconds to take Western Region Division 2 Boys Basketball Championships with a 62-61 final over Northeast Kings Education Centre Feb. 22 in Middleton.

MRHS coach Greg Bower called a time out with the Monarchs in possession of the ball, automatically bringing it back up the court away from Middleton’s net when play resumed. The whistle blew again with 4.8 seconds left, but it wasn’t enough time for the Titans to regroup and find the net.

“That was probably one of the most intense moments that I’ve witnessed in a game ever,” said Grade 12 Middleton forward Kris Hampton. “I’ve seen quite a few games. That was crazy. That win by one point? That was really something.”

The NKEC Titans had a lot of height on Middleton and thrived on rebounds.

“They’re a tall team,” said Hampton. “They’re one of the taller teams we’re going to face, but we have guys that can get around that no problem as we showed here today.”

Both teams will head to Provincials in Amherst in mid-March.

STRATEGY

Bower said he attributes Middleton’s success to playing one possession at a time.

“One thing about our group, we can play tough defense and we do,” he said. “One possession, make a stop, come down and make a hoop -- and another stop and another hoop and you’re right back in those kind of games. So those defensive stops and some rebounds against that huge team were really key. And so I thought, we always had confidence if our defense held up, and we made a few shots, we’d be okay. Our defense did tighten up and we did make a few shots.”

It was solid action from the start of the first quarter with NKEC up 5-0 in the first couple of minutes. MRHS battled back to tie it 9-9 with 2:37 left in the quarter and were ahead 13-10 at the first break. At one point Middleton was behind 36-46 but came back to tie it 49-49. They were ahead 52-49 with 5:15 left in the final quarter, and ahead 58-57 with just two minutes to go.

With 6.8 seconds left on the clock Middleton was ahead 62-61. A few seconds can be an eternity in basketball, but with fans on the edge of their seats, the Monarchs prevailed to take the game and the title.

KUDOS

Bower gave the NKEC Titans kudos.

“They are so big that if you don’t get to them early to box out, once they get towards the basket they’re so big they’re going to get it right over top of you,” Bower said. “It was hard, and they were pretty relentless. That was one of the better games I’ve seen them attack like they did. I thought they did a terrific job of having two or three people hit that offensive board. It made a difference. It was hard.”

Bower said both teams advance right to Provincials in two weeks with some qualifying games taking place this week.

“We don’t know what our seeding will be,” Bower said. “I’m guessing we’ll be seeded third, fourth – something like that. The two teams that will be above us, we lost to by a few points in tournaments this year. Had those games gone a little differently we’d probably go in ranked No. 1. There are five or six teams that are all alike, and I think any one of those five can win Provincials. We’re sort of in that mix and so is NKEC.”

PRELIMINARY PLAY

In preliminary action on Feb. 21, King’s Edgehill defeated Barrington 65-59 and NKEC trounced Liverpool 96-67.

Middleton went straight to one semi-final to down King’s Edgehill 67-43 with Dan Bower and Noah Bezanson scoring 16 and 13 points respectively for the winners and Brisnel Etou grabbing 12 points for the Windsor squad.

In the other semi-final NKEC defeated Forest Heights 88-66 to advance to the championship game.

In the consolation contest Saturday morning, King’s Edgehill edged Forest Heights 57-55 for third spot.

In the final, Bower had 17 points for the winners while Bezanson had 14 and Tyler Baker had 14. Riley Comeau had 20 points for the Titans, and teammate Cam Oickle had 12.