Windham's Creighty Dickson waves the net after the Eagles beat Edward Little, 55-49, in the Class AA boys basketball championship game on Saturday in at Cross Insurance Arena. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

Windham High is headed back to the Class AA boys basketball state championship game. And knowing there is one more week of practices and preparation feels just as good as it did last year, when the Eagles turned their first trip to a state final into a state championship.

The Eagles battled through poor fourth-quarter foul shooting and highlight reel plays by Edward Little’s Diing Maiwen to win Saturday’s North regional final, 55-49, at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.

“That’s the best part of this. We get one more week with these guys. I love these kids and it’s an honor to be the coach at Windham, where I played and where I live and where my work is,” said Windham coach Chad Pulkkinen. “I’m just honored to have that extra week of practice. That’s really important to me to get to extend this time and get a chance to win our last game. Not many teams get to say that.”

Windham (17-4), the No. 2 seed in the North, will return to the CIA at 7:45 p.m. next Saturday to face either South Portland or Bonny Eagle. Windham senior Creighty Dickson and juniors AJ Moody and Tyrie James were key on-court contributors to the 2024 title team.

Windham led by as many as 10 points in the third quarter and appeared ready to close out the game when Edward Little began to purposely foul to stop the clock. But James, Dickson and Moody combined to miss six of eight free throws, and Maiwen’s rebound basket off his own miss had cut the lead to 50-47 with 35 seconds to play.

Windham senior Braycen Freese entered the game as part of and offense-defense switch with Joseph Blige. Freese’s job was to catch an inbound pass, get fouled and make free throws.

“I work on that every day, so I just knew when I was going in, I was going in to make those shots,” said Freese, who finished with nine points, all in the second half. “You can’t think about the past. You have to think about the future. If you’re thinking like, ‘Oh, we just missed a bunch,’ then you’re probably going to miss ones, too.”

Freese did his job. Moody (10 points) then stripped the ball from Maiwen for a turnover. Moody missed both ensuing free throws, but Colin Janvrin grabbed the offensive rebound, was fouled and sank his free throws to push the lead to 54-47 with 18 seconds to play.

Janvrin, a sophomore who comes off the bench, scored 16 points. They were especially needed because the 6-foot-5 Maiwen had taken the 5-10 James, who averages 14 points per game, out of the offense. James finished with seven points and did not take a shot from the floor in the second half. Dickson, Windham’s leading scorer at 15.8 points per game, also had a hard time getting going before making two big baskets early in the fourth quarter. He scored nine points.

“If they’re face-guarding Tyrie and forget about me, then I’m just going to do my thing,” Janvrin said.

Maiwen, who had thrown down two impressive dunks off lob passes from his brother, Akol, had one last eye-popping play when he soared down the lane for a tip-in basket, but it was too late for Edward Little, which finished the season 13-8.

Diing Maiwen was named the region’s most outstanding player. He finished with 17 points. Akol Maiwen scored 16. The brothers combined for 26 of EL’s 30 second-half points. The Red Eddies were without point guard Cedric Makelele down the stretch. He fouled out with 6:46 to play.

“We said before the game it would come down to the little things,” said EL coach Jimbo Philbrook. “Free throws? We didn’t make ours either. They did a good job of offensive rebounding. We gave up way too many second-chance opportunities. They did the little things better than us today. That’s why they’re the winners.”

Edward Little was 6 of 12 at the free-throw line. Windham made 17 of 29 foul shots.

For most of the game, the teams traded points. There was no extended run by either team. But Windham did get an edge just before halftime and in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

Moody hit a 3-pointer at the second-quarter buzzer for a 23-19 halftime lead. Then Freese made a layup to start the second half, and after two free throws from EL’s Owen Galway (7 points), Windham scored six points in a quick flurry, with a Freese 3, a Dickson drive and a free throw by Moody to make it 31-21.

“We did enough to win. At the end of the day, there’s going to be some missed shots and the kids responded. They didn’t crumble. They didn’t give up on each other, and hopefully we’ll make those at another point,” Pulkkinen said.