AUGUSTA – As the Bangor boys basketball team trailed by 11 points deep into the third quarter of Wednesday night’s Eastern Maine Class A semifinal against Mt. Blue of Farmington, an unpleasant reality set in for Ryan Weston – the notion that the season was moments away from ending.

“Your heart just starts beating faster,” said the Rams’ junior center, “because you know if you don’t win this game you’re going home. That’s what got us through, the realization that if we didn’t win this, we’re going home.”

Bangor did return home Wednesday night, but the Rams’ come-from-behind 57-55 victory over Mt. Blue means they’re coming back to the Augusta Civic Center on Friday night to play for a regional championship.

Alex Gallant had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Weston added 16 points – 14 in the second half – as Bangor overcame Mt. Blue’s pressure defense with strong inside play and a solid defensive effort of its own.

“It was just persistence I think, and going inside a little more,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed. “Obviously we had to stop turning the ball over because we had 12 turnovers in the first half. I felt we had to do a better job of making stops in the second half and getting the ball to Alex and Ryan, and I think that paid off for us.”

The win advances No. 2 Bangor (19-1) to Friday night’s regional championship game against No. 5 Messalonskee of Oakland, which defeated No. 8 Hampden Academy 55-50 in Friday’s late game.

Bangor defeated Messalonskee twice during the regular season.

Bangor trailed 44-33 with 2:56 left in the third quarter, but clawed back and got within 49-47 when Lee Suvlu hit a fast-break jumper and Troy Jellison followed with a layup off a Mt. Blue turnover with 5:23 left.

Mt. Blue’s Noah Paytas scored from the low post to give the Cougars a 53-49 lead with 2:13 to play, but Suvlu then made a follow-up shot before Alex Gallant drew Paytas’ fifth foul with 1:15 left.

After a timeout, Gallant made 1 of 2 from the line to draw Bangor within 53-52 before Mt. Blue sophomore Ben Russell – who had made 19 of 20 free throws against Bangor as the teams split two regular-season meetings – missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Bangor rebounded, and Weston got behind the defense for a layup to give the Rams a 54-53 lead with 30.6 seconds left.

Mt. Blue had one more answer, as point guard Art Trask took an inbounding pass from Jamie Sawyer along the baseline and scored with 25 seconds left to give the Cougars a 56-55 lead.

But Gallant was fouled while attacking the basket with 13.8 seconds left, and after missing five of his first seven tries on the evening made both free throws to give Bangor a one-point lead.

“All day at practice, all I did was shoot foul shots,” Gallant said. “Literally all I did was take foul shots, so I was a little ticked I wasn’t making them at first, but I was glad I made those last ones.”

Mt. Blue had one more chance, but Trask lost possession of the ball in the lane. He was able to regain possession, but had his shot blocked by both Weston and Adam Bernstein. Bangor grabbed the loose ball, and Weston added an insurance free throw with 2.8 seconds left.

“We knew they were going to be kind of nervous and kind of anxious, so we just wanted to play good solid defense and not foul and then block them out,” said Weston of Bangor’s final defensive stand.

Bernstein, earning a start after a strong performance in the quarterfinals against Leavitt of Turner Center, contributed eight points and four blocked shots for Bangor.

Isaiah Brathwaite led Mt. Blue with 23 points, including a 10-of-10 effort from the free-throw line and 11 points in the third quarter as the Cougars extended their 29-20 halftime lead.

Trask added 11 points and Paytas scored 10 for Mt. Blue.

RAMS 57, COUGARS 55

Mt. Blue (16-4) Bangor (19-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Trask 5 12 0 1 11 Jellison 1 4

J. Gilbert 0 0 0 0 0 McAllian 0 0

Sawyer 0 1 0 0 0 Zolper 0 3 0

Russell 1 2 0 1 3 Edwards 0 0 0

Toothker 0 2 0 0 0 Suvlu 3 7 6

A. Gilbert 4 9 0 0 8 Bernstein 3 8

Paytas 4 7 2 3 10 Gallant 9 11 23

Braithwaite 5 7 10 10 23 Chase 0 0 0

Weston 6 6 4 16

Totals 19 40 12 15 55 Totals 22 33 10 19 57

Mt. Blue 14 29 44 55

Bangor 11 20 39 57

3-pt. goals – Mt. Blue (5-6): Braithwaite 3-3, Russell 1-1, Trask 1-2; Bangor (3-7): Bernstein 2-3, Gallant 1-1, McAllian 0-1, Zolper 0-2