BANGOR – Bangor’s Zak Ray and Nokomis of Newport’s Ryan McLellan have had some memorable battles on the basketball floor over the past several years.

Now the pair will have a battle of sorts among the voters for the title of Mr. Maine Basketball.

Ray and McLellan along with Cheverus of Portland’s Jeff Holmes were named finalists for the award Wednesday afternoon at a press conference held in Husson College’s Hall of Fame Room.

Mount Desert Island’s Bracey Barker, Danielle Clark of Nokomis, Cony of Augusta’s Ashley Underwood and Catherine McAuley of Portland’s Sarah Marshall were announced as the finalists for Miss Maine Basketball.

Jeff Hart, the Camden Hills boys coach and Eastern Maine vice president of the Maine Association of Basketball Coaches, also announced the participants in the Maine McDonald’s senior all-star games, the all-academic teams and the foul shooting finalists

The Mr. And Miss Maine Basketball winners will be announced on March 21 at the Maine McDonald’s All-Star Banquet.

Gary Eckman, the treasurer for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Maine and the owner of several area McDonald’s restaurants also announced that a new award will be presented at the banquet.

“We will be awarding two academic scholarships. One boy and one girl will be selected from the 10 boys and the 10 girls that are named to the all-state academic team. Each one of them will be walking away with a $1,000 scholarship,” Eckman said.

This is the 23rd year for the all-star teams. The all-star games will be played at Husson’s Newman Gymnasium on March 22. They will be preceded by the foul-shooting contest at 9 a.m.

The all-star games pit Eastern Maine teams against teams from Western Maine. The girls C/D game will begin at 10 a.m. The boys C/D follows at 11:25 while the girls A/B game is slated for 12:50 p.m. and will be followed by the A/B boys game at 2:15.

Mr. and Miss Maine Basketball are chosen based on nominations by coaches around the state. The list is reduced to the top 10 girls and boys based on balloting. A five-member committee of media members and former coaches, one for boys and one for girls, then picks the top three of each gender.

The Miss Basketball semifinalists were Barker, Clark, Marshall, Underwood, Abigail Lesneski (South Portland), Ashley Hilton (Skowhegan), Karen Sirois (Cony), Kari Simpson (Wells), Katie Ann Sibley (Boothbay) and Lyndsay Clark (Dirigo of Dixfield).

The Mr. Basketball semifinalists were Holmes, McLellan, Ray, Austin DeAngelis (Cheverus), Drew Pelletier (Brunswick), Fred Bird (Presque Isle), Jac Arbour (Cony), Jason Hight (Westbrook). Kinsey Durgin (Telstar of Bethel) and Sean Mayo (Thornton Academy of Saco).

Ray and his Bangor teammates will meet McLellan and Nokomis in the Eastern Maine Class A semifinals at Bangor Auditorium Friday night at 7:05.

“To be considered for something like this is an honor in itself and the McDonald’s game, getting into that is great. It’s just a reward for my team playing well. Me helping my team, my team helping me. It all worked out really well this year,” Ray said.

Barker led the Trojans to the Class B state championship with a win over Greely of Cumberland Center.

“I guess honored would be the word. To be chosen as one of the top four in the state is a pretty big honor. There are a lot of great girls basketball in the state,” Barker said.