BANGOR – Last year, unheralded, underdog Bangor Christian pulled off a big upset by knocking off annual tourney contender Jonesport-Beals in the quarterfinals. Saturday morning, the Royals will be the one trying to pull off a shocker.

Jonesport-Beals continued a surprising Eastern Maine tournament run with a 61-44 upset of Greenville Thursday night after the Patriots had knocked off defending East champ East Grand of Danforth 74-68 in a tense battle.

Thursday night, the Royals slowed the tempo, attacked the boards, and mixed a zone in with a triangle-and-two defense to overcome an early Lakers spurt, take the lead with 30 seconds left in the first quarter, and never trail the rest of the way.

“I figured if we finished .500 and just made it to Bangor, that would be a big accomplishment for this team,” said forward Alvin Beal, who again led the Royals to victory with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

The big, burly Royals didn’t give up many second shots as they outboarded the Lakers 30-18 defensively and 50-32 overall. Center Kyle Mitchell (11 points) led the effort inside with 19 rebounds.

Junior guard Abraham Beal held Lakers sharpshooter Greg Aucoin to five points in the Royals triangle-and-two defense while scoring 15 himself, and Billy Merchant guarded Lakers star Tyler Muzzy (21 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and two steals).

Greenville committed just six turnovers to J-B’s 14, but fouls, free throws (2-for-3 vs. the Royals’ 15-for-21 effort), and shooting (29.7 vs. 39.6) were too much for the 15-4 Lakers to overcome.

“Whoever thought we’d be in the final of Eastern Maines,” said J-B coach Ordie Alley. “These kids just put their hearts into it.”

Thursday afternoon, the Patriots’ “Rock” was rock steady when they needed him to be.

Senior center Pat McCleary not only managed to stay in the game after getting tagged for his fourth foul with 5:22 left, he helped the Patriots hold onto a precarious lead by shooting 4-for-6 from the line in the last 67 seconds.

“We needed the rock to get us through there,” said coach Gary Colson, whose 19-2 Patriots will return to the Bangor Auditorium for an 11 a.m. Saturday title game with the 13-8 Royals.

McCleary came this close to not being there when needed. With 2:16 to play, he drew an offensive foul call on EG’s Richard Byers. Just one second later, BC forward Eddie Carey was fouled at half-court while gathering in an inbounds pass from the baseline. The foul was the fifth on 6-foot-4 Vikings center James Zugelder and with 6-4 reserve center Josh Faulkner already out with five fouls, it was a huge loss for East Grand.

“If we could have gotten [McCleary] out, that was huge because he hit the foul shots down the end that really iced it,” said 19-3 Vikings coach Troy Cilley.

McCleary went 6-for-9 from the line en route to 16 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and two assists, but he wasn’t BC’s only star.

“I never know who’s going to step up on this team from day to day,” said Colson.

Thursday the key step-player was sophomore guard Kyle Bradford, who canned three 3-pointers in the first half to open things up and finished with a game-high 19 points, four assists, three rebounds and two second half steals.

Every Patriot player had a hand in this win: Junior Bahamian exchange student Eddie Carey had 17 points, a game-high 20 rebounds, five assists and two steals; sophomore guard Josh Madden scored 13, had five boards, and helped hold EG guard and sharpshooter Darius Parker to 15 points; and junior guard Greg Patterson (four assists) delivered a big defensive effort by holding EG star guard James Godley to 15 points.

With identical turnover team totals (14 each), near-identical free throw shooting, and a 48-43 East Grand rebounding edge (19-8 offensively), the difference was field goal shooting, where BC outshot the Vikes 45.8 percent to 36.5.

The Pats led by as much as 12 and nine in the third quarter, but a 7-0 Vikes run to start the fourth made it 53-51 BC with 51/2 minutes to play. The lead went back to five as Patterson scored his only two hoops in the next 90 seconds. East Grand cut it to three with 1:18 to play on a Godley put-back and five straight missed BC free throws, but McCleary was able to stop the bleeding with 1:07 left and the Pats hit nine of their final 12.

Senior forward Rhett Mortland led the Vikings with 16 points, 16 rebounds, and three steals.

Bangor Christian’s last EM title was in 1979 while Jonesport-Beals’ last title was in 1999.

ROYALS 61, LAKERS 44

Jonesport-Beals (13-8) Greenville boys (15-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Mitchell 4 12 3 5 11 Boucher 1 6 3

Dyer 0 0 0 0 0 Muzzy 9 20 2 21

Faulkingham 0 0 0 0 0 Fowle 0 0 0

Kelley 1 7 3 4 6 Gilbert 2 9 5

Al. Beal 7 11 7 10 21 R. Douglass 2 4

Durkee 0 0 0 0 0 Aucoin 2 15 5

Ab. Beal 6 18 0 0 15 B. Campbell 3 6

D. Beal 1 1 0 0 2 Day 0 0 0

Merchant 2 4 2 2 6 D. Campbell 0 0

Totals 21 53 15 21 61 19 64 44

Jonesport-Beals 15 29 42 61

Greenville 11 27 33 44

3-pt. goals: Jonesport-Beals (4-13): Ab. Beal 3-8, Kelley 1-5; Greenville (4-23): Boucher 1-5, Muzzy 1-6, Aucoin 1-6, Gilbert 1-3, R. Douglass 0-1, B. Campbell 0-2

PATRIOTS 74, VIKINGS 68

East Grand boys (18-3) Bangor Christian (19-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Zugelder 2 6 0 0 4 Madden 4 10 13

Mortland 7 12 2 6 16 Conley 0 3 2

Hanington 0 0 0 0 0 Patterson 2 5

Godley 6 23 2 5 15 Bradford 8 12 0 2 19

Parker 6 17 3 5 15 Sobey 1 1 2

Faulkner 1 4 0 0 2 McCleary 5 16 6 9 16

Byers 5 12 6 10 16 Carey 7 13 17

Totals 27 74 13 26 68 27 59 13 25 74

East Grand 18 29 44 68

Bangor Christian 21 36 53 74

3-pt. goals: East Grand (1-14): Godley 1-8, Mortland 0-1, Parker 0-5; Bangor Christian (7-18): Bradford 3-6, Madden 2-6, Patterson 1-2, Carey 1-3, Conley 0-1

PATRIOTS 74, VIKINGS 68

East Grand boys (18-3) Bangor Christian (19-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Zugelder 2 6 0 0 4 Madden 4 10 13

Mortland 7 12 2 6 16 Conley 0 3 2

Hanington 0 0 0 0 0 Patterson 2 5

Godley 6 23 2 5 15 Bradford 8 12 0 2 19

Parker 6 17 3 5 15 Sobey 1 1 2

Faulkner 1 4 0 0 2 McCleary 5 16 6 9 16

Byers 5 12 6 10 16 Carey 7 13 17

Totals 27 74 13 26 68 27 59 13 25 74

East Grand 18 29 44 68

Bangor Christian 21 36 53 74

3-pt. goals: East Grand (1-14): Godley 1-8, Mortland 0-1, Parker 0-5; Bangor Christian (7-18): Bradford 3-6, Madden 2-6, Patterson 1-2, Carey 1-3, Conley 0-1