AUGUSTA —  With hopes of making history Saturday night, the Dirigo boys’ basketball relived it instead.

After losing a heartbreaker in the Class C state game last year, the Cougars suffered similar disappointment again as Washington Academy pulled away down the stretch for a 70-58 win.

“Of course, it’s disappointing,” said Dirigo coach Dave Gerrish. “They’re strong kids, but they wanted to come out and do their best and try to win this game. So, they’re disappointed with the loss.”

Dirigo hadn’t won a state title since 1983 and came up just short in a 40-39 loss to Calais last year. The Cougars were close once again, but the Raiders were able to pull away down the stretch.

“They got within three, but we pushed it and pushed it,” said Washington guard Noah Von Rotz, who team had never won a state title and had lost twice in the 1990s and in 1980.

After an early lead, Dirigo was behind for much of the game but cut the lead down to 56-53 late in the fourth. A 3-pointer by Spencer Ross and a free throw by Eric Bolduc got the Cougars within 56-53 with three minutes left, but that’s when Von Rotz took over. The Raider senior guard scored 10 straight points and finished with a game-high 22 to break the game open. Washington scored 12 straight late in the fourth before Dirigo got another basket on a Tyler Gates jumper with 29 seconds left.

“That was the moment,” said Von Rotz. “They kept bring it back to three but when it was back to seven, we knew we had the game.”

Ben Teer added 20 points for the Raiders (21-1) while Bryce Colbeth added 18 and Justin Morren had 10. Dirigo (18-2) was led by Gates and Tyler Chiasson with 14 each. Nic Crutchfield and Bolduc each had 10.

“They’re an extremely quick basketball team,” said Gerrish. “We  had trouble keeping up with their guards. We just didn’t have enough left in the tank.”

WA’s quickness and fast-paced style was tempting for the Cougars to try to keep pace with, but by the fourth quarter, Dirigo’s legs began to wilt. After starting the quarter with some early shots, the Cougars missed a half dozen straight shots and couldn’t answer the Raiders when it needed to down the stretch.

“I think they got tired because they thought they were going to run with us,” said Von Rotz. “We wore them down with the running game, and their shooting game got off because they were tired.”

Dirigo was within 44-42 late in the third before a 3-pointer by Teer at the buzzer made it 47-42. Chiasson got Dirigo within three twice in the third before the Cougars made it 56-53. Von Rotz, who was held scoreless in the first quarter, made it a five-point lead with a drive and then stole the ball and converted the layup for a quick 60-53 lead.  He added two sets of free throws before Teer added a pair with 58 seconds left and Colbeth added another two with 40 seconds left.

“It seemed in the third quarter, we made some plays and they answered back with some plays,” said Gerrish. “They made a couple more plays than we did.”

Dirigo had the hot hand early and took the quick lead. Gates had 10 points in the first quarter and set the tone early with a three-pointer. When the Raiders missed its first five shots, the Cougars raced out to a 9-2 advantage, thanks to seven from Gates.

When WA began to hits its shots and got going itself, the Raiders made a run.  Then WA kept running and soon had the Cougars chasing. A pair of three-point plays by Colbeth inside cut the lead and helped put the Raiders ahead. WA used a 7-0 run late in the first to take a 16-13 lead before a Gates 3-pointer tied it.

“The whole game we were thinking that we had to push it,” said Von Rotz. “They came out 7-0 and it was 9-2. Then we just picked it up.”

In the second, Dirigo struggled to maintain the offensive pace it had in the first. The Cougars hit just one of its first 11 shots and finished 3-for-16 from the floor. Dirigo didn’t hit its second shot from the floor until 2:10 remained in the half. WA shot 5-for-10 and opened the quarter with a 12-2 run to build a double-digit lead.

Von Rotz led the charge with some athletic plays and seven points in the quarter. A Colbeth rebound had the lead up to 32-20 before a short jumper from Kyle Hutchinson and free throws by Cody St. Germain trimmed the lead down to 32-24 at the half.

Dirigo trimmed the lead in the third. Bolduc had five points during a 9-0 run that cut the lead to 40-39 with less then two minutes to play, but a jumper by Teer and a score by Morren padded the lead.

“We thought we might be able to make a run at them,” said Gerrish. “We did. We knew we had to chip away, but again, they made some plays and we didnt’.”

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