BANGOR – The pace of the game may have belonged to Cape Elizabeth, but the gold ball belongs to Maranacook.

The Black Bears, held in check offensively for most of the night, made three key 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to take the lead for good, then preserved that cushion at the free-throw line to earn their second Class B boys basketball state championship in three years with a 56-46 victory over the Capers at the Bangor Auditorium on Friday night.

The win capped off an undefeated season for Maranacook of Readfield, which was motivated throughout the winter by the memory of being ousted as the No. 1 seed in last year’s regional quarterfinals.

“It feels great,” said senior guard Ryan Martin, who scored a game-high 26 points. “After what happened last year, we knew we had to take it one game at a time this year, and that was really the game plan going into every game.

“We did that, and that’s what got us here, and we played another good game tonight.”

The Black Bears (22-0) needed to play a good game, because a Cape Elizabeth team making its first appearance in a state final since 1988 simply wouldn’t go away.

The Capers (19-3) trailed throughout by a narrow margin until sophomore forward Andrew Dickey scored after grabbing an offensive rebound to give his team a 34-32 lead with 5:22 left in the third quarter.

Junior forward Alex Bowe followed with a baseline jumper to extend the margin to four points, but Maranacook point guard Mike Poulin set up inside baskets by Conrad Gilman and Ben Johnson to tie the game, and Cape never led again.

Will Bardaglio, a key player in Maranacook’s 2006 title run but sidelined by mononucleosis during last year’s tournament loss, struck the biggest basket of the game, a 3-pointer from the right wing that gave the Black Bears the lead for good at 43-40 early in the fourth quarter.

It was one of Maranacook’s few transition baskets of the night – in stark contrast to its high-scoring ways of its Eastern B semifinal and final, when the Black Bears averaged 86.5 points per game.

“I wasn’t getting open that much in the halfcourt because they were denying me the ball,” said Bardaglio, “but I saw that I had an opening and I just took it, and luckily the shot went down.”

After Cape Elizabeth’s Shaine Burks countered by scoring with the rebound of his own miss, Bardaglio fed Poulin for another 3-pointer as Maranacook slowly extended its lead.

Dickey and Maranacook’s Mike LaChance swapped baskets before Bowe scored from the lane to pull Cape Elizabeth within 48-46 with 3:57 left.

The Capers never scored again.

Martin then gave the Black Bears some breathing room. The 5-9 Martin drove into the lane against considerable defensive pressure from the 6-2 Burks, but when Martin passed to Gilman on the wing, Burks fell down.

Martin retreated to the 3-point line, got the return pass from Gilman and drilled Maranacook’s seventh 3-pointer of the night for a 51-46 Black Bears’ lead.

“We were up four, and we make two defensive mistakes and they capitalize on them,” said Cape Elizabeth coach Jim Ray. “They’re that good, they can drill those open shots.”

Martin finished his high school career shooting 8 of 15 from the field overall, 4 of 5 from beyond the 3-point arc and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line, while Bardaglio added 13 points and five rebounds and Poulin chipped in with seven points and steady floor play.

The Black Bears also got solid production from their two big men, the 6-5 Gilman and the 6-7 Johnson, who worked in tandem during the second half to take away much of Cape Elizabeth’s inside offense while matching the Capers on the backboards. That duo combined for eight points and seven rebounds.

“We just needed to control the inside a little more, and Ben came down with some big rebounds,” Martin said.

Bowe led Cape Elizabeth with 15 points, while Dickey had 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

“I thought our guys did a heck of a job defensively, but we’ve got to play both sides of the basketball,” said Ray. “I don’t think we played as intelligent a game as we needed to on our offensive end, and you have to give [Maranacook] a lot of the credit for that.”

eclark@bangordailynews.net

990-8045

BLACK BEARS 56, CAPERS 46

Cape Elizabeth (19-3) Maranacook (22-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Ray 1 8 0 0 2 Poulin 3 7 0 7

Messina 0 1 0 0 0 Martin 8 15 26

Bowe 7 15 1 2 15 Johnson 2 2 2 6

Dickey 5 8 2 2 13 Bardaglio 4 13

Place 2 4 2 4 6 LaChance 1 2

Burks 3 13 2 3 8 Norwood 0 1 0

Tabery 1 4 0 0 2 HoddWlls 0 0

Lawler 0 0 0 0 0 Gerrity 0 4 0

Gilman 1 4 0 2

Totals 19 53 7 11 46 Totals 19 45 11 12 56

Cape Elizabeth 10 25 38 46

Maranacook 15 27 40 56

3-pt. goals – Cape Elizabeth (1-10): Dickey 1-3, Tabery 0-1, Burks 0-2, Ray 0-4; Maranacook (7-15): Martin 4-6, Bardaglio 2-5, Poulin 1-2, Gerrity 0-2