AUGUSTA - Edward Little thought the stars were aligned for an upset over the Bangor juggernaut in the Eastern Class A championship Friday night.

A winter storm had left most of the Bangor rooting section disguised as empty seats capable of producing litle more than a dull roar. The Red Eddies had already played the unbeaten Rams three times, even taken them down to the wire in the first meeting. And, hey, with 67 years separating it from its last regional crown, EL had a right to figure it was just due.

"We looked at the whole David vs. Goliath thing," EL coach Mike Adams said. "We even watched the 'Miracle on Ice' today, because (Friday) is the anniversary (of the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeating the USSR in 1980). Today was Kyle Philbrook's birthday, so we thought all these omens are leading up to..."

"But we knew it would take a lot more than omens to beat Bangor," he added.

Top-seeded Bangor's talent, size and depth are no match for omens. Second-seeded Edward Little quickness and heart were a match, though, and pushed the Rams for 31 minutes before Bangor could clinch its fifth regional title since 2000 with a 61-54 victory at the Augusta Civic Center.

Ryan Weston dominated the paint with 23 points and 14 rebounds and University of Maine-bound guard Jon McAllian put on a shooting exhibition with 17 points to send Bangor to its 20th win of the season and 31st victory in a row, dating back to last season.

"The key tonight was rebonding and defense," said Weston, a chiseled 6-foot-5 senior who provided heavy doses of both. "We had a few shaky matchups, but we thought overall, the matchups were in our favor."

Junior Corey Therriault scored a game-high 27 points for EL. Ben Hartnett added eight and Kyle Philbrook seven.

EL (16-4) trailed by nine with 2:30 left, but got the opening it needed when Bangor turned the ball over four straight times in its backcourt against EL's stifling man-to-man pressure. Therriault, who scored 11 of his 19 second-half points in the fourth, got a 3-point play off of dribble penetration after the first turnover. The second led to two Therriault free throws that made it a four-point game with 1:55 left. Three EL defenders surrounded Lee Suvlu to force a jump ball and the third turnover, but the Eddies couldn't take advantage as Therriault missed a 3-pointer. Eric Prue (six points, nine rebounds) took a charge to force the fourth turnover, but Therriault missed again from beyond the arc and Weston was fouled in the rebounding action.

After Weston knocked down a pair of free throws, Hartnett drilled a 3-pointer for EL and it was a one-possession game, 54-51, with 1:22 to go. The Eddies pressed again, but this time inbounder Billy Zolper lobbbed a pass over the top of the defense to McAllian for a layup that made it a five-point game and stemmed EL's momentum.

"That's a play that we run called 'Fire,'" McAllian said. "We knew we could catch them off-guard with that."

"We had to force tempo and we had to get up big," Adams said. "We can't defend them from 18 feet in. We had to defend them from 18 feet out...so you take the good with the bad."

The Eddies weren't quite ready for the latter, though. Hartnett was fouled in the act of trying a trey, and he knocked down all three free throws to make it 56-54 with 1:10 left. EL couldn't find the hole after that, and Adam Bernstein (11 points, eight rebounds), McAllian and Zolper combined tomake six of seven from the line to pull away.

"It's pick your poison (with Bangor)," Adams said. "I thought for what our game plan was, the kids did a remarkable job."

"We said it would take a great game to beat them," he added. "We played a very, very good game. We didn't play a great game.

Bangor had 27 turnovers. EL turned it over just one-third of the time.

"Obviously,some of the shots didn't go our way," said Prue, one of six seniors on the team, including four starters. "We played our hearts out. We left everything on the court. We have no regrets now."

Bangor started the game by pounding the ball insed to Weston, who scored eight of the Rams' first 10 points as they took a 10-6 lead. Therriault gave the crowd a taste of what was to come by nailing back-to-back 3-pointers to tie it and vault EL into the lead for much of the rest of the half.

Bangor started settling for jump shots in the second quarter and missed eight of its first nine shots. EL (3-for-15) went cold, too, until Philbrook worked a pretty give-and-go with Therriault to give the Eddies their largest lead, 24-21, with 1:20 left in the second. The Rams closed out the quarter with a Bernstein 3 and a terrific play where McAllian rebounded a Therriault miss and zipped a pass down the court to Zolper for a layup to beat the buzzer and give Bangor the lead.

McAllian and Therriault staged a long-distance shootout early in the third quarter, hitting trading four successive 3-pointers, with McAllian's final answer putting the Rams up for good at 35-32 with 5:41 to play.

"I knew I had to step up for my team. We were struggling to score," McAllian said.

EL went cold fom the perimeter after that, going nearly five minutes without a point. But Bangor maintained its hot hand from the perimeter, shooting 7-for-8 in the quarter to take a 10-point lead into the final period.

"They may have missed a few early, but eventually, with our guys, they're going to heat up," Weston said.