The Cheverus boys basketball team got off to a good start several months before the start of the season when 6-foot-5 center Jeff Holmes transferred to the Portland school from Massabesic in Waterboro.

Holmes joined senior point guard Austin DeAngelis to form a formidable scoring duo.

Combine that with coach Bob Brown’s well-known propensity for playing a half-court style offensively and a match-up zone defense and the results were a 19-2 season and a Western Maine Class A regional championship.

The Stags will meet Eastern Maine champion Bangor Saturday night a 7:05 for the state championship at Bangor Auditorium.

Holmes, a Mr. Maine Basketball finalist, has been an inside force for the Stags averaging 17.6 points and nine rebounds per game.

“The best thing abut him is that he’s a 3.7, 3.8 student and a great kid. Basketball-wise it’s great to have him around,” Brown said.

The addition of Holmes has meant that DeAngelis, who moved to point guard this season after playing shooting guard in the past, has had less pressure on him to score.

“Austin took leadership of the team and made everybody else better,” Brown said.

DeAngelis averaged 12 ppg this year after scoring at a 19.7 ppg clip last year.

The Stags avenged one of their two losses in the Western Maine final with an 87-55 drubbing of Edward Little of Auburn.

But like Bangor in its semifinal with Nokomis of Newport, Cheverus was involved in a nail-biter in its semifinal with Westbrook. The Stags won 58-56 in triple overtime but not before a last second Westbrook 3-point attempt just missed.

Cheverus’ second loss came just after Christmas to Sanford. Payback for that loss came in the WM quarterfinals when the Stags downed Sanford 53-39

In the final, Holmes scored 32 points while DeAngelis had 16 points and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

Andrew Ward, a 6-3 forward, had 14 points in the final. Ward, a senior co-captain, is an excellent rebounder and a good shooter who is capable of hitting from 3-point range.

Another weapon for the Stags is 6-0 junior Mac Simpson who scored 15 points in the final.

Simpson would score more if not for Holmes and DeAngelis. Simpson can hit from long range and will likely lead the team leader next year.

Andrew Schober is the least recognized of the Cheverus starters. But he is the type of player every coach wants on his team. Schober is not a flashy player and does the dirty work. At 6-2 he has the size to rebound and the junior can score when called upon to.

“I think that what our team has evolved into is that in the beginning we had two players. Now we have five,” Brown said.