BANGOR – Bangor High School boys basketball coach Roger Reed had his lucky green tie on Saturday night. At least it might be lucky. He’s not sure.

Reed, you see, believes in making his own luck. But it is the same tie he wore the night of the mother of all upsets two years ago when his team beat an extremely talented Deering of Portland team for the state title.

And now, after beating Cheverus of Portland 48-43 in overtime Saturday for his sixth Class A state championship, there might be just a touch of luck in the tie.

But Reed can see beyond the luck of wearing green so close to St. Patrick’s Day. He can see senior Zak Ray, who basically willed his team to the state title.

And he can see a pair of sophomores who aren’t supposed to play as well as they played Saturday night, or the whole season for that matter.

Sophomores are supposed to drive coaches crazy with their inconsistent play. They’re supposed to be brought out of a game a couple of times a night to have a no-no explained to them.

But Saturday night, 25 minutes after the gold ball had been handed to the Bangor boys basketball team, after most of the media had finally departed and while some of his teammates were in the showers, sophomore Jordan Heath was still walking around the Bangor Auditorium with the gold ball tucked under his arm.

Heath, who is admittedly nervous about interviews with newspaper, radio and TV reporters, was beaming, offering a smile for every camera turned his way.

He had reason to smile. He had scored nine points in the Bangor win on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range. A camera may make him nervous at times, but not an open look at the basket.

“Coach Reed makes me shoot the ball and gets on my case if I don’t look to shoot,” he smiled.

Right, but not a straight-away 22-footer with a 6-foot-3-inch defender running at you in the state championship game.

Everybody had to be saying no. Right?

“I’m telling Jordan to shoot it,” another one of Reed’s sophomore starters, Aaron Gallant, said. “I’ve played with Jordan right from when we were little kids and he’s been known to make incredible shots.”

Gallant is Reed’s lunch-pail and hard-hat guy. All 5 feet 11 inches of him. Gallant took on much bigger players all year. Saturday night was no different. He, senior Kevin Flynn, and junior Mike Prentiss took turns trying to contain Cheverus’ Mr. Maine Basketball candidate, 6-foot-5-inch Jeff Holmes.

And when he wasn’t on Holmes, he was on 6-foot-3-inch forward Andrew Ward, because unless Gallant is in foul trouble he rarely leaves the floor.

Gallant spent a lot of time picking himself up off the floor having taken the worst of a physical confrontation with the taller and bigger players. But he got up each time and went back for more.

“You get a little frustrated. It’s tough when they’re three, four, five inches taller. And [Holmes is] an incredible athlete. He can jump right through the roof,” Gallant said.

Still, Gallant had his chances to make the taller guys uncomfortable. He scored nine points on a 3-pointer and three baskets in the paint where he fought through the trees for points.

“Our sophomores have been big for us all year,” said senior Wesley Day, who also scored nine points. “[Gallant] takes a beating. He takes a beating in practice. But he’s always giving 100 percent.”

And there’s something else involved besides a 100 percent commitment.

“No fear,” Heath said. “We’ve been playing together for a long time and this is the stage we wanted to be on. We knew that we had to come out and play and help out our seniors and win this gold ball.”

Maybe Reed’s right. Maybe, as Freud would say, a tie is just a tie. Maybe Reed would prefer to count on a couple of sophomores to make his luck.