BANGOR — After fouling out with nearly four minutes remaining in the Class B boys’ basketball state championship game Friday night, Lake Region senior Jack Lesure walked off the Cross Insurance Center court and to his bench.

Coach John Mayo was waiting.

“You got us here,” Mayo said. “They’ll take care of the rest.”

Indeed, a furious third-quarter surge sparked by Lesure provided more than enough cushion as the Lakers throttled Ellsworth, 63-47.

The championship is the first for Lake Region since 1985.

With a four-point halftime lead, the Lakers opened the third quarter with a 16-0 run thanks to relentless pressure and a refusal to take their foot off the gas pedal.

“We’re really a run-and-gun team,” said Nate Smith, one of Lake Region’s 11 seniors. “We play defense, and then we run down the floor, score, and play some more defense.”

Among the many highlights for Lake Region was Smith diving near the midcourt sideline to save a ball from going out of bounds and, from his back, feeding Lesure for a driving lay-in that became a three-point play when Lesure was fouled in the act and landed hard.

After gingerly getting to his feet and sinking the free throw, Lesure came right back the next possession and attacked Ellsworth’s tallest player with a pump fake and a bank shot from the low block.

Minutes later, after a turnover, Lesure chased down an Ellsworth ballhandler heading in for what appeared to be an easy layup and dived, Superman-style, to flick the ball away before it returned to the dribbler’s hand.

“I saw it on a Top 10 plays,” Lesure said, “when Rajon Rondo did it for the Celtics, I think. That was running through my head at the exact time. I thought, maybe if I can tip this, it will be kind of cool. So why not?”

Lesure and Smith each finished with 14 points for Lake Region (20-2). Marcus DeVoe added 12. Nick Wandishin had eight points. Reserve Alex Langadas grabbed nine rebounds and scored six points.

“We came out like fire,” Langadas said of the post-halftime surge. “We came out like a pack of wolves. Just surreal.”

Bruce St. Peter led Ellsworth (17-5) with 15 points.

The Lakers had cruised through the South region as the No. 1 seed, dispatching No. 8 Poland by 14, No. 4 Lincoln Academy by 45 and No. 3 Yarmouth by 10.

Ellsworth, meanwhile, had a much tougher time as the second seed in the North. The Eagles beat No. 10 Maine Central Institute easily but needed overtime to edge No. 6 Caribou before handling No. 4 Orono in the final, 52-34.

Both teams came out running Friday night, with Nick Bagley of Ellsworth draining a 3-pointer on the game’s first shot. Lake Region’s balanced offense resulted in seven scorers building a 19-14 lead that quickly stretched to seven when the burly Langadas zipped a no-look pass to Brandon Palmer for a lay-in in the opening minute of the second quarter, setting the Lakers crowd into a frenzy and resulting in a quick timeout called by Ellsworth Coach Peter Austin.

“They were much quicker than we were,” Austin said, “and quicker than I expected after watching them on film. Obviously the pressure bothered us. You’re always on your heels and that takes a toll on you.”

Lake Region held Ellsworth scoreless for the first five minutes of the third quarter, then opened the fourth with a 12-7 run before Lesure picked up his fifth foul. By then the score was 58-36 and Ellsworth came no closer than 16.

“Our press may not have worked in the first half,” said Mayo, Lake Region’s first-year coach, “but I think we tired them down a little bit. We play the whole game full-court and it wears on teams sometimes.”

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