The Maranacook Black Bears have been waiting for this evening for a full year. For the Cape Elizabeth boys basketball team, the wait has been much, much longer.

Maranacook of Readfield and Cape Elizabeth will converge on the Bangor Auditorium tonight with the Class B state championship at stake. Game time is approximately 9 p.m., after the girls final between Waterville and Lake Region of Naples.

After winning the 2006 state title, the first in school history, Maranacook thought it was poised to win back-to-back crowns last winter. But a late-season bout of mononucleosis suffered by guard Will Bardaglio proved devastating to those hopes, as the top-seeded Black Bears were ousted in the quarterfinals by No. 8 Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield.

Getting back to – and winning – another state championship game has been the overriding goal of the program ever since.

“These guys are focused,” said seventh-year Maranacook coach Rob Schmidt after the Black Bears’ 84-72 win over Camden Hills of Rockport in the Eastern Maine final. “Our goal is the state championship. That’s where we still want to be. We’re now playing for the state championship, but we still haven’t reached our goal yet.”

Cape Elizabeth will be playing in its first state final in 20 years, since the Capers defeated Ellsworth in the 1988 championship game.

“I knew we could be pretty good,” said 14th-year Cape coach Jim Ray. “I’ve had this feeling before with a number of teams I’ve had, but things happen along the way that either help or hinder how your season goes.”

The Capers got off to a 3-2 start this winter but since then have run off 16 consecutive victories, including a 57-50 win over Freeport in Saturday’s Western B final.

“These kids really have made great strides in terms of working together,” said Ray, whose teams made four straight trips to the Western B final between 1999 and 2002 but lost once to York and three times to Gorham. “They’re unselfish, and it’s made us a balanced team.”

Cape Elizabeth allowed just 41.3 points per game during its tournament run, an average similar to what the team allowed during the regular season.

Alex Bowe, a 6-foot-2 junior forward, led the team in scoring during the regular season and earned second-team All-Western Maine Conference accolades, while 6-2 senior guard Tommy Ray – the coach’s son – led the Capers in rebounding and was a first-team All-WMC choice.

Andrew Dickey, a 6-3 sophomore forward, was the Western B tournament MVP, while 5-11 junior point guard John Messina and 6-5 senior center Ian Place round out the starting lineup.

The Capers get an additional boost off the bench from 6-3 senior Shaine Burks, who missed the first two-thirds of the season due to academic ineligibility but has come on strong as the team’s sixth man.

Maranacook counters with a high-octane attack led by 5-9 senior guard Ryan Martin, a two-time Bangor Daily News All-Maine choice who was the Eastern B tournament MVP for the second time in three years after averaging 25 points in three regional games last week.

Senior guards Bardaglio (16 ppg during tourney play) and Mike Poulin (9 ppg) and junior forward Devin Gerrity (15.3 ppg, Eastern B tourney-record 11 3-pointers) are other offensive threats, while 6-5 senior Conrad Gilman patrols the middle.

The Black Bears averaged 77.3 points in tournament wins over Rockland, Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln and Camden Hills.

“They can sure score, it’s no mystery to me,” said Ray. “They stretch out your defense because they all can score.”

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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