BOX SCORE

Greely 64 Lake Region 60

LR- 25 6 9 20- 60
G-14 15 16 19- 64

LR- N. Duprey 10-3-29, Stone 4-3-13, Chadbourne 1-4-6, Gibbons 2-0-4, E. Duprey 1-0-3, Garland 1-1-3, Martin 1-0-2

G- St. Hilaire 2-12-18, Walker 6-0-15, Raftice 5-1-11, MacArthur 2-5-9, Coyne 4-0-8, Gardner 1-1-3

3-pointers:
LR (9) N. Duprey 6, Stone 2, E. Duprey 1
G (5) Walker 3, St. Hilaire 2

Turnovers:
LR- 20
G- 19

FTs
LR: 11-16
G: 19-20

CUMBERLAND—If Greely’s boys’ basketball team has proved anything this winter, it’s that it knows how to win close games.

And Wednesday evening, the Rangers found themselves in another one.

And found a way to prevail yet again.

Hosting talented Lake Region, Greely found itself in a 12-point hole before the game was five minutes old and trailed, 25-14, after one quarter, as Lakers senior sharpshooter Noah Duprey went off for 17 points, including five 3-pointers.

The Rangers settled down and rallied to take their first lead, on a 3-pointer from senior Andrew St. Hilaire, before a late 3-ball from senior Jacob Stone gave Lake Region a slim 31-29 advantage at the half.

Greely opened up a five-point lead, 45-40, after three periods, thanks to a late 3 from senior Timmy Walker, but on six different occasions in the fourth quarter, the Lakers went on top, only to see the Rangers respond every time.

Down, 60-58, with under a minute to play, Greely saved its best for last, as St. Hilaire tied it with two free throws, junior Seamus Raftice gave the Rangers the lead on a putback with 15.4 seconds remaining and St. Hilaire iced it with two more foul shots to produce a 64-60 victory.

Greely counter-acted Duprey’s 29 points by placing three players in double figures as it won its seventh game this season by six points or less, improved to 8-6 on the year and dropped Lake Region to 9-8 in the process.

“This shows the heart that we have,” said St. Hilaire. “We wanted to punch back and that’s something we pride ourselves on.”

Another nailbiter

Greely beat visiting Fryeburg Academy (69-63) in its opener, then edged host Brunswick at the buzzer (62-61), held off host Gray-New Gloucester (62-57) and beat visiting Gorham at the horn (52-51) before losing at home to York (69-55). The Rangers were then defeated in overtime by visiting Freeport (70-58), fell at York, 62-52, and lost at Yarmouth (40-30) and Cape Elizabeth (65-51) before turning things around with a 57-54 win at Poland, which was followed by a 53-52 victory at Wells, a 51-41 home victory over Yarmouth and Tuesday’s 59-55 loss at Fryeburg Academy.

Lake Region, one of many contenders in a balanced Class B South, started the year 5-1, lost four straight, went on a four-game win streak, then lost at Gray-New Gloucester and Wells in its most recent outings.

The teams met once last year, a 66-64 Lakers’ victory in Naples.

Wednesday, Greely turned the tables, but it didn’t come easily.

Duprey set the tone by sinking a long 3-pointer just six seconds in, then made a layup after a steal for a 5-0 lead with the game just 26 seconds old.

After the Rangers got on the board on a Raftice jumper, Duprey drilled a 3 from the corner, then got another 3 to rattle for an 11-2 advantage.

St. Hilaire tried to get Greely going with a 3-ball of his own, but junior Jacob Chadbourne answered with two free throws before sophomore Evan Duprey made a 3 for an 11-point lead.

After Walker scored his first points on a jumper, Noah Duprey sank another long 3 and Lake Region had its biggest lead, 19-7.

St. Hilaire made a couple free throws and junior Hayden MacArthur came off the bench and converted an old-fashioned three-point play (layup, foul and free throw) before senior Grady Garland answered with a three-point play of his own to put the Lakers back up by 10.

Late in the quarter, Rangers senior Dee Martin Coyne, who was a beast on the boards all night, scored on a putback, but Noah Duprey, fittingly, capped his sensational quarter with his fifth 3-pointer and 15th, 16th and 17th points to make it 25-14 Lakers after eight minutes.

“I knew (Duprey) was good, but he was at the point where he was making shots you don’t see very often,” marveled Rangers coach Travis Seaver.

Greely ramped up the defensive intensity in the second period and roared back.

Two St. Hilaire free throws got things going and after a foul shot from Noah Duprey, Walker sank a 3.

Noah Duprey answered with a runner off the glass, but Raftice spun and made a layup while being fouled before adding the and-one free throw, MacArthur hit two foul shots, MacArthur drove for a layup, then, after a Lake Region timeout, St. Hilaire sank a 3 with 2:49 on the first half clock to give the Rangers their first lead, 29-28.

It didn’t last, as Stone drained a 3 to give the Lakers a 31-29 advantage at the half.

Duprey led all scorers with 20 points, while St. Hilaire paced Greely with 10.

The third quarter would feature four ties before the Rangers got a little separation.

Just 11 seconds into the second half, St. Hilaire fed Walker for a backdoor layup to make it 31-31.

Noah Duprey countered with a jumper, but two St. Hilaire foul shots tied the score, 33-33.

After Walker took a pass from senior Liam Gardner and made a layup, a driving layup from Chadbourne tied the score anew, 35-35.

St. Hilaire then set up Gardner for a layup and Walker added a 3, but a layup from sophomore Wesley Martin and a three-point play from Stone evened the score at 40-40, but a late putback from Coyne and a 3 from Walker gave Greely a 45-40 advantage heading to the final stanza.

Where the contest was decided in the final minute.

Lakers freshman Brock Gibbons opened the fourth period with a layup, but St. Hilaire set up Coyne for a layup at the other end.

Stone hit a 3 and after a free throw from Gardner, Stone made two foul shots, then Stone drove for a layup with 4:53 remaining and Lake Region was back on top, 49-48.

With 4:10 left, St. Hilaire made two foul shots, but Noah Duprey drove for a layup as the back-and-forth continued.

With 3:52 on the clock, Coyne got a pass from MacArthur and made a layup, but 10 seconds later, Noah Duprey hit his final 3 to give the Lakers a 54-52 advantage.

With 3:32 to go, MacArthur set up Raftice for a layup to tie it.

Eleven seconds later, Chadbourne hit two free throws for Lake Region, but with 2:28 left, two MacArthur free throws made it 56-56.

With 2:10 remaining, Noah Duprey hit two foul shots, but 25 seconds later, Raftice drove for a layup and the score was deadlocked again.

With 1:26 left, freshman Jackson Libby fed Gibbons for a layup and the Lakers had their final lead.

Then, with 40.3 seconds showing, St. Hilaire was fouled and made both shots to tie the score for the eighth and final time.

“I love being in that spot,” said St. Hilaire. “I want to be there. I’m not nervous. I had confidence. I just thought about my follow-through and let it fly and the ball did the rest.”

“(Andrew’s) the one we want on the line,” said Seaver. “He has the most experience and he wants the ball in his hands. It was refreshing to see him come back and get the ball and wait for that opportunity.”

Lake Region had a chance to go back on top, but Chadbourne was off-target and Coyne got the rebound.

Out of a timeout, Greely got the ball to St. Hilaire, who missed his shot, but Raftice got to the rebound and put it home with 15.4 seconds to go to give the Rangers the lead for good.

“I was a little out of position, but I saw the ball, jumped up and grabbed it and my immediate reaction was I couldn’t let the opportunity go, so I just had to score,” Raftice said.

“Seamus has been killing the boards all year long,” Seaver said. “It was nice to see him get the ball in his hands there.”

The Lakers never got a chance to tie or go back ahead, as MacArthur stole the ball and with 1.8 seconds showing, St. Hilaire iced it with two free throws and Greely won it, 64-60.

“We just focused on playing defense, trying to attack the glass and taking our time on offense,” said Raftice. “The defense made the difference in the second half. ”

“The kids are tough,” said Seaver. “They know what to do down the stretch. We’re battle-tested, but a 15-point (win) would be nice sometime. It’s great experience, especially coming off last year not having this type of environment, but it’s nervewracking too. Obviously, we’re lacking a killer instinct.

“Lake Region did great. We spotted them 25 points in the first quarter and (Duprey) shot great, but we made some adjustments. We face-guarded him and made sure we didn’t leave him.”

St. Hilaire paced the Rangers with 18 points, a dozen of which came from the free throw line. St. Hilaire also had four steals.

Walker added 15 points and four rebounds and Raftice wound up in double figures also with 11 points (and he grabbed five rebounds).

MacArthur was solid off the bench with nine points and a couple assists.

“Our balance shows a lot,” said St. Hilaire. “Our bench guys are the reason we won. They brought energy.”

Coyne had eight points and dominated down low with 13 rebounds and Gardner finished with three points.

Greely had a 33-20 rebound advantage, overcame 19 turnovers and was a superb 19-of-20 from the free throw line.

Noah Duprey finished with 29 points for Lake Region. Stone added 13 points, Chadbourne had six, Gibbons four, Evan Duprey and Garland three and Martin two.

The Lakers turned the ball over 20 times and hit 11-of-16 foul shots.

Stretch run

Lake Region (ranked seventh in the Class B South Heal Points standings at press time) hosts Waynflete Saturday in its finale.

Greely (third in Class A South) is scheduled to host Wells Friday and Falmouth Saturday, then plays at Freeport Monday and closes at home versus Gray-New Gloucester Wednesday of next week.

“We’re excited,” Raftice said. “We’ve had some tough losses, but we got a good win against Yarmouth last week, so we have the tools to compete against anyone.”

“Close games make us stronger and that’s good for us in the tournament, since we learned how to play through things,” St. Hilaire said.

“We’ve talked in the locker room about how we can compete with anyone and the downside is that if we’re not perfect, we can have mishaps,” Seaver added. “We just need to get more consistent. We can’t have big quarters defensively and we can’t struggle like we do offensively at times.

“I think a lot of teams will peak come February and hopefully we’re one of them.”

Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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