AUGUSTA – The t-shirts were ready to wear as soon as the clock struck zero. As the Greely High School boys basketball team celebrated its Class A state title, the Rangers wore the official championship t-shirts. The shirts were ready to go as a result of more confidence and less hubris.

“We don’t like losing,” Greely junior guard Logan Bagshaw said.

It was another year with the same ending for Greely. The 62-45 win over Lawrence gave the Rangers their third consecutive Class A state championship Friday at the Augusta Civic Center. With Greely’s win over Hampden in the Class A girls championship game earlier in the evening, the Rangers earned the Class A hoops sweep for the second straight season.

“It feels amazing. The next one is better,” Greely senior Andrew Storey said. “We both work really hard, and it pays off.”

Greely finishes the season at 19-3. Making its first state title game appearance since 1999, Lawrence ended the season at 13-9.

Bagshaw led the Rangers with 21 points. Zach Brown added 14 points for Greely, while Storey scored 11.

Greely led by as many as 18 points in the third quarter, before Lawrence rallied to cut the deficit to nine points, 40-31, on a three-point play by Gavin Herrin with 6:55 to play. The Rangers answered with an 8-0 run to regain control of the game.

“We got it down to single digits a couple times, nine points early in the fourth. I liked our game plan. In the first quarter, we just needed to get a few more buckets,” Lawrence coach Jason Pellerin said. “I don’t think it was nerves. I think it was a little bit of adjusting to their height initially. We were getting stops. We just weren’t getting buckets at the other end.”

Lawrence dug a hole with shooting struggles in the first quarter. The Bulldogs were just 1 for 9 from the field in the first quarter, the lone basket a short jumper by Kobe Nadeau with 1:10 left in the quarter.

Greely started slowly, too, but picked up the pace late in the first. Storey’s breakaway dunk off his own steal came with 23 seconds left in the first quarter and was the accelerant. The dunk gave the Rangers a 10-2 lead, and ignited Greely’s offense for the second quarter.

“I was just going. I wanted to go before that and after. Just keep it going,” Storey said. “We didn’t let them back into the game. We didn’t want to let them back into the game.”

A pair of threes by Bagshaw early in the second pushed Greely’s lead to 16-2. Bagshaw scored 14 of Greely’s 19 points in the second quarter. Six of those came in the final minute of the half, helping the Rangers take a 29-16 lead into the break.

Nick Robertson led Lawrence with 16 points. Nadeau and Dylan Martin-Hachey each scored nine points for the Bulldogs.

“I thought we played hard. I thought we played with good energy. They’re well-coached and they execute well. Our guys came and fought and they played hard. At some point you just have to be willing to tip your hat that the other team is a really good team,” Pellerin said.

For Lawrence, the season was a rebound, even with Friday night’s loss. After back-to-back seasons missing the playoffs, the Bulldogs won Class A North as the region’s four seed, breaking a 20-year regional title drought. Pellerin credited the work of the team’s seven seniors as a key to the team’s success.

“All I can say is, I think I’m the lucky one. I got to watch them grow up from boys to men and they played like that all season, especially down the stretch,” Pellerin said. “I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to coach seven young men like those guys.”

Travis Lazarczyk – 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM