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The Gardiner Tigers held off a spirited second-half run by the Yarmouth Clippers to take home the Class B boys state basketball championship on Friday night.
Gardiner’s win capped off another year of the high school tournament at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, and finished things off for the Tigers in dream-like fashion.
The No. 3 team in Maine’s northern region held on in the fourth quarter to beat Yarmouth 58-54.
Yarmouth, who escaped the southern bracket as the No. 4 seed, made a late push but Gardiner was able to do just enough down the stretch to secure the championship.
The Clippers closed in midway through the final period. A huge 3-pointer from Yarmouth sophomore forward Matthew LeBlanc cut the game to 46-42 around the 5-minute mark in the fourth.
Junior guard Trace Moody responded with two critical points in the lane for Gardiner, en route to a team-high 20 points on the night.
Yarmouth junior guard Owen Oranellas added another timely 3-pointer to cut the Gardiner lead to 48-47.
But Gardiner senior guard Brady Peacock was there with two buckets of his own to maintain a 54-47 cushion for the Tigers.
Yarmouth leading scorer Evan Oranellas provided several more baskets and totaled a game-high 22 on the night, but it wasn’t quite enough for the Clippers.
Though the Clippers were able to hold Gardiner senior forward Brady Atwater, the North regional tournament’s MVP, to a quiet night offensively after some early foul trouble, Moody and Peacock stepped up and made sure that Gardiner left Bangor with a championship.
Moody made several big free-throws to help close out the game Friday night.
