PORTLAND – Perfect game plan. Perfect execution. Perfect season.

Unbeaten Brunswick ran off 10 straight points midway through the first quarter, grabbed the lead for good and never looked back en route to an 83-61 Class A state championship win over Deering of Portland at Cumberland County Civic Center Saturday night.

One of the most successful seasons in schoolboy basketball history allowed the 23-0 Dragons to put the first gold ball in the school’s trophy case just a week after placing the first regional title plaque in there.

“I think they’ll find plenty of room for it,” senior forward Mike Lobikis said with a laugh. “They might build a case just for that.”

A surprised, sellout crowd of 6,500 fans watched the Dragon defense dominate Deering. The Rams simply couldn’t match up favorably with Brunswick, man-to-man.

Both coaches thought this would be a game of runs. It was, but they were all Brunswick’s. After the 10-0 run gave Brunswick a 12-6 lead with 2:49 left in the first, the Dragons followed with a 9-2 run to close the first quarter and open the second with a 21-10 lead. The last big run was 18-6 over the final 41/2 minutes of the first half and the first 11/2 minutes of the second.

“We haven’t been manhandled like that in the two years I’ve been here,” said coach Mike Francoeur, whose 19-4 Rams are state runners-up a second straight year. “They flat out beat us in every aspect of the game, other than heart maybe. If we’d played our best game tonight, I don’t know if even that would have been good enough.”

Brunswick’s lead peaked at 27 points and never fell below 17 in the second half.

“Coach [Todd] Hanson did the best job of preparing us he could have. He did all we could ask of him and I think we did all he could ask of us. We just ran it perfect,” said senior captain Dan Hammond, who hit 9 of 16 from the field and finished with 24 points. “I’ll look back and I’ll still be like ‘Wow.’ Everything fell, nothing missed, it was great.”

The Dragons shot 52.7 percent from the field, canned 22 of 32 shots from the line, committed only nine turnovers to Deering’s 20, and outrebounded the Rams 11-8 offensively and 34-32 overall.

“Turnovers were the key. We just played hard all the time and we were working our butts off to get in the passing lanes,” said Drew Pelletier, who had 18 points, six rebounds and three assists.

The junior guard, along with Hammond and sophomore Ralph Mims, also turned in an MVP defensive effort on Rams sharpshooting guard Patrick Conway.

Conway, one of Deering’s best 3-point shooters, never attempted a 3-pointer Saturday and was held to four points on 1-for-4 shooting.

Mims, whose father saw him play in person for the first time in two months, was simply outstanding – both as Walter Phillips’ shadow on defense and an irresistible force on offense.

“I told my dad that I didn’t want him to waste his money for no reason,” said the 6-foot-3 swingman. “I told him I will get him a state championship and I got him one.”

Mims made it well worth his dad’s admission price with 31 points, five assists and four steals – all game highs – as well as nine rebounds and a blocked shot. He also held Phillips to three points and one rebound in the first half.

Phillips (19 points, seven boards, three assists) was one of several players in early foul trouble. A third foul with 5:58 left in the first half sent Hammond to the bench, but Lobikis evened things 21/2 minutes later by drawing an offensive foul on Phillips for his third.

“That was a big turning point and defensively, they did the job,” Francoeur said.

With 6-6 junior Taylor Caron subbing in, the Dragons missed Hammond less than Deering missed Phillips and they showed it by cranking up the transition game and outscoring the Rams 14-3 over the next 41/2 minutes.

The 6-5 Hammond drew Mr. Basketball finalist and Maryland scholarship player Nik Caner-Medley, but he had lots of help in Brunswick’s man-to-man defense.

“I knew Danny could guard him. Nik’s a great player, but Danny’s big enough to extend out along the perimeter and he’s quick enough to guard him man-to-man,” said Hanson. “Plus we made sure we always had a guy on the same side of the floor where Medley was when he had the ball.”

Deering’s 6-7 forward finished with 26 points along with a game-high 14 rebounds and three blocks.

DRAGONS 83, RAMS 61

Brunswick (23-0) Deering (19-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Koerber 0 0 0 0 0 Belanger 3 8

Murphy 0 0 0 0 0 Marsh 1 2 2

Mims 9 18 13 17 31 Ramonas 0 1 0 0

Lobikis 2 4 0 0 4 Mulkern 0 0 0

Hammond 9 16 5 11 24 Conway 1 4 2

Duffy 1 3 0 0 2 Phillips 6 11 5 7 19

Williams 0 0 0 0 0 Caner-Medley 11 21 1 2 26

Gagnon 0 0 0 0 0 Marks 2 5 4

Pelletier 6 10 4 4 18 Leo 0 0 0

LaPrad 0 0 0 0 0 Nichols 0 1 0

Caron 2 4 0 0 4

Baribeau 0 0 0 0 0

Zamore 0 0 0 0 0

Alexander 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 29 55 22 32 83 Totals 24 53 14 61

Brunswick 19 41 61 83

Deering 10 24 39 61

3-pt. goals: Brunswick (3-8): Pelletier 2-3, Hammond 1-3, Mims 0-2; Deering (6-21): Caner-Medley 3-11, Phillips 2-4, Belanger 1-5, Marsh 0-1

Attendance: 6,500 (sellout)