BANGOR — Aaron Toman got the curtain call — one that couldn’t be much sweeter.

Moments after his Gardiner boys basketball team finished off a 58-54 win over Yarmouth in the Class B state title game, the eighth-year head coach hoisted the Gold Ball in front of the Tiger faithful. Yet once wasn’t enough; as soon as he turned his back, chants of “TO-MAN! TO-MAN!” rang out from the Gardiner student section.

“I feel like the luckiest guy in the world to have that community that supports you through thick and thin and just values you,” Toman said. “(This team) has been through so much together, and they’ve stayed with it and bought into that team-first mentality. … It couldn’t happen to a better group of young men.”

After years of being an also-ran, Gardiner completed its rise to the top, winning the first Gold Ball in program history. The Tigers led the majority of the game and held off a second-half surge from Yarmouth in a historic victory at Cross Insurance Center.

Tracy Moody led Gardiner with 20 points, and Brady Peacock added 11 points and eight rebounds for the Tigers.

Adam Maxwell, one of Yarmouth’s stars in the South regional, was held scoreless. Evan Oranellas paced the Clippers with 22 points. 

Gardiner maintained a one- or two-possession lead for much of the first half as Yarmouth seemed to answer whenever the Tigers scored. Yet with Gardiner (19-3) up four with under a minute left, Isaac Marquis came off the bench to hit back-to-back 3-pointers, giving the Tigers a 34-23 lead heading to the break.

“That was huge,” said Marquis, a junior. “We knew that they were going to come back out here in the second half and finish strong, so we had to get some momentum and get ourselves a big lead to start it off.”

Yarmouth (17-5) did rally, chipping away at the Gardiner lead bit by bit. The Clippers trailed 43-37 entering the fourth quarter and, with 3:40 left, an Owen Orenallas 3-pointer made it 48-47.

Yarmouth, though, couldn’t complete the comeback. A layup by Peacock on an assist from Moody made it 54-49 with 40 seconds left. Then, as the Clippers began fouling, Trace Moody went to the line and swished four straight free throws to seal the win.

“It’s such a surreal feeling to be here holding the Gold Ball,” Moody said. “Credit to (Yarmouth) because they’re a heck of a tough team to go against. They’re defensive-minded like us, so we knew that it was going to be a tough game. We just found a way in the end.”

Gardiner’s success against Maxwell was key. Yarmouth’s 6-foot-4 center scored 25 points in the Clippers’ thrilling 77-72 victory over York in the South semifinals, then added 18 in their 63-58 regional final victory over Medomak Valley.

Slowing him down was a focus for the Tigers as they prepared for Yarmouth. Toman had taken notice of Maxwell’s dominance and gave the primary role of defending him to Nick McKay, who is 4 inches shorter but locked him up nonetheless.

“It speaks to our guys’ dedication on the defensive end,” Toman said. “I thought Nick McKay guarding Maxwell had a tremendous night, along with Colin McCormick. … Nick McKay is one of those guys that does the gritty things that go unnoticed, but tonight, I hope they were noticed.”

For Yarmouth, a remarkable run following a less-than-stellar start to the season fell one game short of the ultimate prize. The Clippers entered Friday having won 13 of their last 14 games.

“We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole not being ready for their ball pressure, and that really falls on my shoulder more than anyone,” said Yarmouth’s first-year head coach Connor Hasson. “They fought for position in the post, but more than that, they jammed up our ball movement. … I didn’t do a good enough job preparing those guys for it.”

This was only the second state final for Gardiner. Toman was a senior on the 2012 team that lost to Yarmouth, 65-53.

Don’t think for a minute that wasn’t on the minds of Gardiner players and coaches Friday. Toman called it “a full-circle moment,” and beating the team that denied his coach 14 years ago, Marquis said, completed the ultimate story.

“It’s a really good get-back,” Marquis said. “He’s been in the darkest of darks, so it feels really good that he gets to live this moment.”