BANGOR – Tough defense and big baskets in key spots helped the Lee Academy boys basketball team hold on and earn a trip to the Eastern Maine Class D final.

The No. 1 Pandas overcame the charging Cougars in the third quarter and got 14 points from Gerry Worster en route to a 57-44 victory over No. 4 Katahdin Thursday night in a regional semifinal at the Bangor Auditorium.

“It was our defense,” Lee coach Randy Harris said. “I thought the kids really got it done. Our mindset was rebound and defend and the offense would take care of itself. We didn’t do real well offensively but we played very well defensively and we rebounded well.”

Lee will try for its first Eastern Maine Class D crown when the Pandas face No. 2 Central Aroostook of Mars Hill, a 66-60 winner over No. 3 Calvary Chapel of Orrington in Thursday’s first semifinal.

The 15-5 Pandas will play 15 minutes after Lee’s girls team goes for the EM crown starting at 9:05 a.m. Saturday.

The Cougars of Sherman Station (16-5) and the Pandas played twice in the regular season, both Lee victories. Even though the second game wasn’t close, senior center Matt Scott said Katahdin couldn’t be counted out.

“With them, they always seem to come back, they always have one big boost,” said Scott, who had nine points and a team-high seven rebounds. “You can’t ever really tell if you’re to put them away.”

Worster scored five straight points at the start of the third quarter to give Lee a comfortable 35-20 lead.

But the Cougars went on an 8-0 run to cut the Pandas’ lead to seven points, and although Lee still had the lead, it was hardly a comfortable one. Lee responded with a five-point run into the fourth quarter, then Katahdin standout Owen McCarthy hit three straight baskets to make it 41-34 early in the fourth.

Worster and Neil Cowan then scored for Lee, both baskets coming off assists from Tom Bird, but Katahdin’s Patrick Willett answered with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and a fast-break lay-in to cut the lead to six points.

That’s where Lee’s tough man-to-man defense took over. The Pandas shut down the Cougars for about 31/2 minutes, during which time Willett and fellow starter Jordan Qualey fouled out. Lee went 6-for-11 from the free-throw line in that span.

“We weren’t getting back defensively,” Katahdin coach Bill McAvoy said. “We had that 8-0 run but we exerted a lot of energy to get back into it. I thought their intensity was so much better than ours and to me that was the key to the game.”

Katahdin scored five points in the final two minutes of the game.

Willett finished with 13 points and McCarthy had 10.

Lee outrebounded Katahdin 30-22.

The Cougars opened the game in a triangle-and-2 with defenders on Bird and Cowan, but Lee took a 12-0 lead in the first quarter.

PANDAS 57, COUGARS 44

Katahdin (16-5) Lee Academy (15-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Brayall 1 1 0 0 2 Thompson 0 0

Willett 4 13 3 4 13 Cowan 4 10 9

O. Qualey 1 2 0 0 2 Coulombe 0 0

J. Qualey 0 0 0 0 0 Houghton 0 0

Ja. Anderson 1 4 0 0 2 Pickering 0 2

Jo. Anderson 2 4 1 2 5 King 3 4 7

Gould 2 4 0 0 6 Bird 4 10 12

McAvoy 0 6 0 0 0 Worster 4 8 14

K. Anderson 1 5 0 0 2 Crocker 0 0 0

Osnoe 0 0 0 0 0 Scott 3 4 9

Harris 1 1 0 0 2 Tripp 1 1 4

McCarthy 5 13 0 2 10

Curtis 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 18 53 4 8 44 19 42 17 26 57

Katahdin 12 20 28 44

Lee Academy 18 30 37 57

3-pt. goals – Katahdin (4-16): Gould 2-4, Willett 2-5, O. Qualey 0-1, McAvoy 0-3, McCarthy 0-3; Lee (2-7): Worster 2-4, Thompson 0-1, Cowan 0-1, Bird 0-1