BANGOR – There’s nothing like a heated rival and the memory of an opportunity lost to bring out the best in a championship-caliber team.

Top-ranked and undefeated Maranacook of Readfield responded to such a scenario with a lights-out first-half performance Saturday to surge past Camden Hills 84-72 at the Bangor Auditorium and win its second Eastern Maine Class B boys basketball title in the last three years.

State champion in 2006 but ousted in the quarterfinals of last year’s tourney as the top seed, Maranacook takes a 21-0 record into Friday night’s state championship game against Cape Elizabeth, also to be played in Bangor.

“After last year we came in here hungry,” said Maranacook senior point guard Mike Poulin, who had 12 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in the final. “Once we got through that first round, which was tough, we settled down a bit and started shooting better and everything fell into place.”

Camden Hills, the 2007 EM champ, finished 20-2, with both losses to Maranacook.

Senior guard Ryan Martin led Maranacook’s attack with 23 points and six steals, while backcourt mate Will Bardaglio had 20 points and six rebounds. The Black Bears also got a second straight big game from junior forward Devin Gerrity, who scored 18 points, including four 3-pointers, as Maranacook set an Eastern B tournament record with 24 3-pointers in three games.

But the Black Bears, who also set a single-game mark with 12 3-pointers in their semifinal win over Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln, came out aggressively driving to the basket against Camden Hills.

The result? The Black Bears shot 62 percent (17 of 27) in the first half to assume a 47-26 lead.

“They came out hitting everything, and I thought we were back on our heels, and that’s never a good thing,” said Camden Hills coach Jeff Hart. “We prefer to put people back on theirs, but they did it to us.”

The Black Bears extended their lead to as much as 25 points at 56-31 when Martin hit a jumper from the lane and Bardaglio followed with back-to-back layups, the second coming with 5:49 left in the third period.

Camden Hills then resorted to a two-platoon system with frequent substitutions of five players at a time.

The move reinvigorated the Windjammers’ full-court defensive efforts, and Camden Hills went on an 11-0 run to draw within 56-42 when Gordon Fischer scored after a steal by teammate Kiefer Lammi.

“We were obviously in a situation where we had to do something to try to get some energy, so we just decided to do that,” said Hart. “It got us closer but didn’t get us over the hump.”

That’s because Gerrity answered with a pair of 3-pointers from the left corner on two straight Maranacook possessions, restoring the Black Bears to a 62-42 cushion.

“They kind of stopped the bleeding,” said Maranacook coach Rob Schmidt. “We were in trouble. We had to call timeout and make adjustments because we were caught going east-west way too much there, and finally when Devin hit a couple of those shots and gave us those six points, that was a crucial part of the game for us.”

Camden Hills never got closer than 14 points until the final two minutes.

Maranacook maintained its late lead with stellar free-throw shooting. The Black Bears went 24 of 32 from the line for the game, and Bardaglio and Poulin combined to make 11 of 12 in the fourth quarter.

Senior guard Paul Campbell paced Camden Hills with 17 points, while backcourt mate Christian Pieri and junior forward Lammi each added 10 points.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

990-8045

BLACK BEARS 84, WINDJAMMERS 72

Camden Hills (20-2) Maranacook (21-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

C. Pieri 4 8 1 1 10 Poulin 2 4 12

Fischer 4 15 0 0 9 Martin 9 16 23

Safford 1 5 0 0 2 Johnson 3 4 6

Campbell 6 14 2 2 17 Bardaglio 4 11 12 20

Weferling 2 2 0 2 4 LaChnce 0 0 0

Gartley 2 2 0 0 5 Norwood 0 0 0

Lammi 3 7 4 4 10 Gerrity 7 11 18

Morgan 0 0 0 0 0 Gilman 2 6 5

Smith 3 6 1 2 7 Allen 0 0 0

T.McFrlnd 4 5 0 0 8

Richards 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 29 64 8 11 72 Totals 27 47 24 32 84

Camden Hills 10 26 51 72

Maranacook 20 47 66 84

3-pt. goals – Camden Hills (6-20): Campbell 3-7, Gartley 1-1, C. Pieri 1-2, Fischer 1-4, Smith 0-1, Safford 0-2, Lammi 0-3; Maranacook (6-13): Gerrity 4-6, Bardaglio 1-3, Martin 1-4