BANGOR – If David Chrisos had played in the Eastern Maine Class D championship game on Saturday, he would likely have scored a bunch of points, defended like crazy, and led his Bangor Christian Patriots to a title.

Chrisos did none of that on Saturday, as the Patriots won their first Eastern Maine title since 1979 with a 72-59 win over Jonesport-Beals.

All he did was predict exactly what would happen.

“It was funny,” coach Gary Colson said. “Before the game, I went down to see Dave at the hospital and he said, ‘Coach, today’s Greg’s day, and today’s Josh’s day.’

“Dave was right.”

Chrisos, who has been hospitalized through the entire tournament after sustaining injuries in a serious car crash last week, was, indeed, right.

Greg Patterson, who stepped in as a starter after the crash, rained in four 3-pointers in the game’s first nine minutes. Josh Madden scored six points in the game, made three steals and battled burly Jonesport-Beals star Alvin Beal on the defensive end for much of the game.

The Patriots bolted out to a 23-4 lead after one quarter, never led by less than 10 after that, and improved to 20-2.

Bangor Christian will face Western Maine champ Valley of Bingham in Saturday’s Class D state final at about 3 p.m. at the Augusta Civic Center. Valley has won the last four state titles.

Jonesport-Beals finishes at 13-9.

Patterson, who is one of Chrisos’ closest friends, said his pal told him the same thing when he visited on Friday night.

“He told me I was gonna have a big day today,” Patterson said with a grin. “I said, ‘I know.'”

Patterson finished with 12 points, Pat McCleary poured in 20, and Eddie Carey added 18 points and 13 rebounds. Kyle Bradford added 14 points.

Jonesport-Beals was led by Beal, a 6-foot, 260-pounder, who made 12 of 15 shots from the field en route to 32 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds and tied Dwight Carver’s 1972 tourney mark for most free throws made in a regional tournament (32). Beal said the Royals made a decision to try to stop Carey and McCleary, and Patterson took advantage of that.

“Patterson hit some big 3’s at the beginning,” Beal said. “We wanted to try to make him beat us, and he done it.”

Abraham Beal added 11 points for the Royals. Kyle Mitchell scored nine, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked three shots.

Carey said the Patriots regrouped well after Chrisos’ accident, but said the team is a bit different now.

“If we had David, we would have been a very massively crazy team,” Carey said. “But since David isn’t here, we try to do our best for him.”

They did that, attacking the Jonesport-Beals offense from the outside first, then pounding it in to Carey and McCleary.

“They shot exceptionally well,” Jonesport-Beals coach Ordie Alley said. “I told the kids, a lot of times you run into a team that will do that. You get caught in the buzz saw.”

McCleary said the Patriots had two choices after the accident: They could wallow in self-pity … and lose. Or they could pull together … and win.

“We used it as motivation,” McCleary said. “Because none of us wanted to face [Chrisos] if we lost. He would have jumped out of bed and made sure we never forgot it.”

Alvin Beal was upbeat after the loss, and admitted that the Royals wished Chrisos was at the game to watch his team play.

“I wish he was here instead of in a hospital bed,” Beal said. “That’s too bad. Hopefully they’ll bring home a gold for him.”

PATRIOTS 72, ROYALS 59

Jonesport-Beals (13-9) Bangor Christian (20-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Libby 0 0 0 0 0 Madden 1 6 6

Bryant 0 1 0 0 0 Wilson 0 0 0

Mitchell 4 9 1 2 9 Conley 0 1 0

Alley 0 0 0 0 0 Patterson 4 12

Dyer 1 2 0 0 3 Putnam 0 1 0 0

Kelley 0 4 0 0 0 Bradford 6 14

Al. Beal 12 15 8 10 32 Doten 0 1 0

Durkee 0 3 0 0 0 Pinkham 0 0 0

Ab. Beal 3 13 2 4 11 Sobey 1 7 2

Berry 0 1 2 4 2 P. McCleary 7 10 6 6 20

D. Beal 1 2 0 0 2 Carey 8 14 18

Merchant 0 4 0 0 0

Totals 21 54 13 20 59 Totals 27 56 11 13 72

Jonesport-Beals 4 18 38 59

Bangor Christian 23 39 51 72

3-pt. goals: Jonesport Beals (4-17): Bryant 0-1, Dyer 1-2, Kelley 0-2, Durkee 0-1, Ab. Beal 3-6, Merchant 0-4; Bangor Christian (7-18): Madden 1-5, Conley 0-1, Patterson 4-8, Bradford 1-2, Carey 1-2