They don't have the luxury of playing their tournament 15 minutes next door in Augusta, but the Maranacook Black Bears' second Eastern Class B boys' title in three years shouldn't be overlooked.

After surviving a quarterfinal scare from Rockland, 59-57, Maranacook ran roughshod over Mattanawcook, 89-70, and Camden Hills, 84-72, on its way to the crown.

Tournament MVPs aren't named at Bangor Auditorium the way they are in Augusta and Portland, but there wouldn't be much argument over Ryan Martin in this or any other season.

Martin extended his record-shattering career for one more week by scoring 23 points against Camden.

The Black Bears roared to a 21-point halftime lead against the Windjammers, posting their second official win of the season over their chief Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference rival and avenging an overtime loss in the KVAC championship game.

That contest is generally considered an exhibition, as it has no bearing on tournament seeding.

Will Bardaglio went 10-of-11 from the free-throw line on his way to 20 points in the final. Maranacook was 24-for-31 from the stripe as a team.

And while Martin is considered the marksman of the bunch, it was Devin Gerrity who set an Eastern B tournament record with 11 3-pointers in three games.

Even more amazingly, he missed only four shots from beyond the arc.

Maranacook (21-0) will welcome Cape Elizabeth to the auditorium Friday night in the state championship clash.

The Black Bears beat Mountain Valley at the "Mecca" for the 2006 Gold Ball before losing to Mattanawcook in the 2007 quarterfinals.

A championship wasn't the only addition to the Buckfield family in the Western D tournament. Co-coach Dan Jack became a grandfather for the third time - during the semifinal win over Richmond. His daughter Elisha gave birth to her first child, Eleanor, Thursday morning

"I didn't know she had had it until the game had started," said Jack.

Jack knew that Elisha had gone to the hospital at 4 a.m. that morning. With a semifinal game against rival Richmond, Jack and the Bucks already had plenty on their agenda for the day.

Jack learned of the birth during the game and was beaming for more than one reason following the semifinal victory.

"After the game, we went down," said Jack. "She just came home (Saturday). Her and her husband were watching on TV."

Moments before the Monmouth girls' basketball team arrived for its Western C championship game Saturday with Madison, the radio station that had music playing over the Augusta Civic Center public address system just so happened to play the Kinks' song "Lola". It is the chorus of that song that the Monmouth student body sings whenever Mustang Jenn Lola makes a play in the game.

It appeared to be a good omen for Monmouth. Lola and Katie Woodman each led Monmouth with 11 points, but the Mustangs lost to the Bulldogs by three.

Saturday's Western Class C girls' championship game appearance was especially satisfying for Danielle Hebert of Madison and Moe Beaulieu of Monmouth, who had to fight their way back after each suffered a torn knee ligament in the same December 2006 game.

Her injuries received less notice, but Jill Armstrong experienced similar adversity during her four-year run at Monmouth.

"Getting here my freshman year was great, but then I couldn't really play as well as I wanted to my sophomore and junior years because of leg problems," said the Mustangs' point guard. "To finish up my senior year this way with such a special group of girls, it's great."

Monmouth dropped a 37-34 decision to Madison, their third loss in four tries against the Bulldogs this season.

For Monmouth's seniors - Armstrong, Beaulieu, Jenn Lola and Katie Woodman - the defeat ended one of the school's most impressive four-year runs ever in Class C.

The Mustangs made the tournament in three of those four seasons, their first brush with the postseason since three straight Western D titles from 1998 to 2000.

Having nearly two weeks between its final regular-season game and the start of the Class D tournament clearly didn't set back Buckfield, which stormed to three one-sided victories and won its first regional girls' title since 1990.

Other coaches might worry about a loss of momentum with so much of a break in the action at the end of an 18-0 season. Buckfield co-coaches Troy Eastman and Dan Jack instead saw it as a chance to get back to basics.

"We have a gym in town where we spend a lot of time playing during the summer," Eastman said. "Late in the season, with all the postponements for weather, we sort of got in a game-game-game-game situation. And when we did have a chance to practice, school would be canceled. (The time off gave) us a chance to work on a lot of things."

Bangor's Ryan Weston absolutely dominated his low-post competition throughout the Eastern Class A boys' tournament. Of course, most of that competition spotted the Bates College football and basketball prospect three inches and 50 or more pounds.

EL coach Mike Adams anticipated those same problems for his guard-oriented offense.

In Friday's regional final, he decided to show Bangor and Weston a side of his lone starting big man, 6-foot-3 Corey Therriault, that perhaps they hadn't seen: A feathery touch from the perimeter.

The result: Therriault scored a game-high 27 points in the Red Eddies' hard-fought, 64-57 loss.

"I wouldn't call it a mismatch, but because Weston is so big and so strong, one area where we felt we had an advantage was that (playing outside) allows Corey to play to his natural strengths," said Adams.

Therriault will be the centerpiece of new-look EL squad next year, one that will be less fleet of foot but bigger with Shane Ciriello, Sean Daigle and James Philbrook assuming likely starting roles in the paint.

Buckfield returned to past glory on Saturday with its first Western D title since 1990, but all week that past was following the Bucks' pursuits.

Melissa Reuter, mother of senior Amy Reuter, had her medals from her championship seasons at Buckfield. Reuter won three regional titles and one state title between 1978 and 1981. She had runner-up medals and three small silver balls and a gold ball, signifying the state championship in 1980.

"I woke up thinking I knew where these were," said Reuter. "I thought they were in my jewelry box. Sure enough, there they were."

She pulled them out and showed them to her daughter and kept them in her pocket through Buckfield's run last week.

Amy Reuter wasn't the only current Buck with a championship pedigree. Heidi Hamann, mother of sophomore Ashlee Hamann, named the tournament's most outstanding player, was a sophomore on the 1980 team. She didn't have her medals with her this week.

"I don't even know if I know where they are," she said.

Julie Eastman, mother of Emily and wife of Coach Troy Eastman, was on the team in 1985 and 1986 that won regional titles.