GRAY — The Gray-New Gloucester boys basketball team is in playoff mode with about three weeks remaining in the season.

Wins have been hard to come by for the defending Class A state champion Patriots (4-10), and they know they need to make a run now if they want to return to the Portland Expo in the middle of February to play for another Gold Ball.

They’re hoping Friday’s 67-56 victory over Mt. Ararat is the start of an upward trend.

“We talked about it all week,” Gray-New Gloucester coach Ian McCarthy said. “This is our first game this week, and we practiced like our backs are on the wall. And we came together as a team — our captains were big tonight, all three of them.”

The Patriots’ three captains all scored in double figures against the Eagles: Colby Mitchell scored 25 points, John Patenaude had 17 and Isaiah Portas finished with 11.

Adding to the importance of Friday’s victory is that Mt. Ararat (3-9), like Gray-New Gloucester, is fighting for a postseason berth. The Eagles are ninth in the Heal point standings, while the Patriots are 10th.

“Definitely, since they’re also down with us, we needed to beat them because we need to get up there so we can make the playoffs,” Mitchell said.

Mt. Ararat defeated Gray-New Gloucester 77-56 in Topsham on Dec. 10.

McCarthy said the Patriots have continued to battle through the ups and downs of the season.

“We could have easily had in-fighting, and we didn’t,” McCarthy said. “We stuck together. We practiced hard. We’ve gotten better and better. We had some really close losses throughout the year, but everyone kept their heads up, and we know that we still have a chance if we can piece some wins together and start tonight.”

Gray-New Gloucester has lost four games by four or fewer points, including a 56-55 loss to sixth-ranked Marshwood on Dec. 21 and a 57-54 loss to top-ranked Noble on Jan. 4.

“I think every game has helped us get to where we are, whether a win or a loss,” Patenaude said. “We’ve had a lot of close games with the top three teams in the state right now, or top four teams in the state, all within three points. The schedule did change a little bit. Yeah, it was good, but I think every one of the games has got us to where we are right now.”

McCarthy said a 70-29 loss to Edward Little, a Class AA opponent, in late December was important for the Patriots. The large margin on the scoreboard allowed him to use the bench more than usual, and a role player was discovered: junior Carter Davis.

“We had a couple of guys that got into that game that wouldn’t normally be in the rotation,” McCarthy said. “And, in fact, one of those players is now in the rotation as our sixth man. So that little hidden gem, Carter Davis, has given us a spark, found his way into the rotation from that game. And we needed his leadership, which he gave to us. So maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.”

Davis contributed four points to Friday’s victory.

Patenaude said Gray-New Gloucester’s improvement has been noticeable the past few weeks.

“Just everything, I’d say — even our practices. Like, at the start of the year, we’re kind of just, like, not really always focused, messing around sometimes,” Patenaude said. “But I think now, since we got our backs up against the wall, we definitely realized that we got to start turning up in practice. And then that translates into games a lot better than what we were doing before.”

Logan Zoulamis finished with 16 points to lead Mt. Ararat, while Andrew Clemons had 14 points and Logan Dubuc 10.