The Rams’ Kurt Randall and Ben Bethayer each hit for 21 points.
By Randy Whitehouse
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – Friday night’s Western Class B championship game epitomized a see-saw battle worthy of the Augusta Civic Center stage, but no one could have expected such a lopsided overtime the way Lake Region and Gorham went back and forth for the first 32 minutes.

Gorham won the war of attrition, outscoring Lake Region 17-5 in the overtime for a 72-60 victory.

The Rams move on to their fifth state championship game in five years.

Kurt Randall and Ben Thayer led the third-seeded Rams (19-2) with 21 points and 13 rebounds apiece. Justin Brown added 18. Jon Marstaller paced the fourth-seeded Lakers (17-4) with 23 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and eight blocked shots and was named the tourney’s outstanding player. Jon Gilson added 14 points and 11 rebounds and Andrew Beal also had 14.

“A few of us were here a couple of years ago and we watched it happen,” Thayer said. “We wanted it so bad for ourselves.”

A nip-and-tuck second half that saw five ties and seven lead changes came down to a Thayer bucket off an offensive rebound with 10 seconds left that gave Gorham a 55-53 lead. Marstaller then nailed two clutch free throws with 4.4 seconds left to tie it. Matt Trask’s heave from halfcourt at the buzzer clanged off the side of the rim to send it to overtime.

Gorham appeared to have the fresher legs in the OT, scoring the first seven points on free throws by Brown and Randall and buckets by Thayer and Randall. Jim Oberg hit a 3-pointer to pull Lake Region back within three with 1:11 left, but a layup by Randall followed by a missed trey by the Lakers sealed the outcome for the Rams.

“It’s the Western Maine final so you’re always able to dig a little deeper,” Thayer said. “This team always fights. We kept plugging away.”

Momentum swung back and forth in a first half of runs. After a 4-0 start for Gorham, Lake Region went on a 10-0 run. The Rams answered with a 10-0 run of their own. With Gorham up 14-12, Thayer scored the last seven points in the final 40 seconds of the quarter for a 21-12 Gorham edge.

A 9-1 Laker run to start the second made it a 22-21 Gorham lead three minutes into the second quarter. The Lakers hung in for the rest of the period from the free throw line but couldn’t catch the Rams until Marstaller’s buzzer-beater from halfcourt tied it at 33-33 at the break.

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