Members of the Lake Region boys basketball team celebrate with their fans after capturing the Class B State Championship Friday night in Bangor. Photo by Chris Lessner.
BANGOR- Coach John Mayo of the Lake Region Lakers boys basketball team can remember sitting at the Bangor Auditorium with his parents as a freshman in 1985, watching the Lakers play in the basketball tournament. That team went on to win the state title. 31 years later, first year head coach Mayo got to celebrate another state title but this time with his team and community Friday night as Lake Region outlasted Class B North champion Ellsworth 63-47 at the Cross Insurance Center.
A tight first half between the two teams culminated with Lake Region taking a 28-24 halftime lead. Nick Bagley gave Ellsworth its first lead of the game when he drained a three pointer on the Eagles first possession fourteen seconds into the contest. But Ellsworth only led for a total of 2:21 of the opening quarter and never regained the lead. The Lakers held a 19-14 lead after the opening quarter and led 21-14 early in the second for their largest lead of the first half. Ellsworth senior center Bruce St Peter had 11 points in the first sixteen minutes of action to keep the Eagles in the game while Nate Smith had eight and Marcus Devoe had six points to keep the Lakers in the lead.
In the third quarter, Lake Region took total control of the game. The Lakers went on a 16-0 run to begin the quarter to take a 44-24 advantage. Lake Region senior guard Jackson Lesure, who was in foul trouble, had eight of his 14 points in the quarter. Ellsworth finally broke the run on a unconventional three point play from Bagley but the damage had been done as the Lakers outscored the Eagles 18-5 in the quarter to take a 46-29 lead into the fourth quarter. Coach Mayo said, “Back and forth early, we stayed in it, stayed with them, they stayed with us. Second half, we just kept running the ball and attacking and attacking and attacking. I mean we got 11 seniors, we got seven, eight, nine guys that can score for us and play defense”. When asked about the higher tempo with a big lead in the third quarter, Mayo added, “We talked about it, we were gonna go and go fast. If we slow down, it becomes a half court game and that can hurt you. Keep going, keep going, keep going, we will do that all day long”.
Lake Region would open the lead to as many as 22 points in the fourth quarter and never let Ellsworth get closer than 16, which was the final margin in the Laker win. Lesure, who had three fouls in the first half and picked up an early fouth foul early in the third quarter said, “Yeah that was tough, but we buried them, which was good (speaking of the third quarter run). Coach just told us to push it and play defense, have faith and trust our teammates and that’s what we did and it helped us out big time”.
Ellsworth, who finishes up the season at 17-5 as regional Class B North champions and state runners up, they were led by St Peter who finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Bagley finished with nine points and six rebounds while Kyle Golding had eight and Zach Harris had seven points.
Smith and Lesure led the state champion Lake Region Lakers both with 14 points a piece. Smith also had seven rebounds while Lesure had five. Devoe finished with 12 points while Nick Wandishin had eight points. The Lakers finish their season at 20-2.
