After Mother Nature decided it was a good idea to bury most of New England in mountainous amounts of snow, the Lisbon and Brunswick High School Unified basketball teams finally got a chance to play their first game of the season on Thursday at Lisbon High School.

Not only did these teams get a chance to see the action unfold before them for the first time, but the Dragons kicked off the year on a high note, capturing a 44-40 overtime victory over the Greyhounds.

“That is what this game is all about,” Dragons head coach Chris Baribeau said after the game about the effort put out on the floor. “We’re in the Unified League having fun. It was a tightly-contested game, but kids on both sides are having a blast. The coaches were into it, the officials were smiling and the atmosphere here couldn’t have been better.”

“It was back and forth, and I think both teams played hard,” Greyhounds assistant coach Jody Benson said. “We worked the ball around and it just happened. That’s what we want for Unified basketball. It’s not ‘you against this person and that person;’ we’re a team and it’s the team verses a team. There were some stand outs definitely, and you can capitalize on that like you would any regular varsity team and I’m really happy with that.”

To give an idea of just how back and forth the contest was, the largest lead of the game occurred in the third quarter when Brunswick jumped ahead, 23-18. But, Lisbon was able to chip away and bring the game back within one by the end of the frame.

The dramatic style of play also started early when Dragon Andrew Duross tossed up a 3-pointer right as the buzzer was sounding at the end of the first quarter to reduce his team’s deficit at the time to 10-9.

The Dragons appeared to be holding off for their first win of the season with under 30 seconds to play in regulation, but the Greyhounds made it interesting when Jake Patenaude threw up a shot in what football fans might refer to as a “Hail Mary” with 20 seconds left for a 3-pointer to tie it at 38 apiece.

Brunswick had a chance to put it away in the final seconds, but hard defense by the Greyhounds and headsup rebounding forced an overtime to be called upon to settle the match.

With four minutes displayed on the scoreboard to start the extra frame, the two teams battled back and forth, but four points from Jackson Gordon and a crucial steal from Neil Murphy allowed the Dragons to sustain their lead and hold on for the victory.

“I don’t really know what to expect,” Baribeau said in regard to his team’s performance day-in and day-out. “We all put our pants on one leg at a time, we’re out here to have fun.”

“I think we saw on this team that we have different levels of athletes,” Benson said. “I think we’re definitely going to be able to move forward to a solely competitive league and an instructional league, but there are certainly players on both teams that need that encouragement. As long as we can move forward in that direction, we will and we’ll work together.” Brandon Bartlett led the way for the Greyhounds with 17 points, while Dragon Alex Larson totaled 21 on the afternoon. Brunswick rolled to a 57-38 differential in rebounds, while Lisbon forced 30 turnovers and were able to limit itself to only 14.

“We’re in the player development stage,” Baribeau said. “We’re still focused on fundamentals and skills, and again to have fun. (Our goal) is to really grow in the sport and hope that more kids will want to try out next year. A successful season will be based on starting with 15 (players) and ending with 15.”

The Dragons will host Lewiston on Monday at 3:30 p.m., while the Greyhounds will travel to Leavitt on Tuesday to face the Hornets at 3:30 p.m.