As contrasts of style go, this one is ridiculous.

Dirigo High School surrenders baskets as stingily as a master chef reveals his ingredients. Lee Academy loves to run, jump, roll up points and put its athleticism on parade.

Whichever team successfully writes the script tonight likely will walk away with the Class C boys’ basketball championship. Tip-off is 8:45 p.m. at Bangor Auditorium.

Lee (20-1) has won 16 straight games since its lone loss Dec. 23 to Schenck. The Pandas punished their three Eastern Maine tournament opponents by an average of 28 points.

Only two teams have held Lee under the 55-point plateau, and the team’s closest margin of victory over the last nine games was a cushy 13.

“They’re big. They’re athletic,” Dirigo junior guard Josh Turbide said. “They can run the ball, that’s for sure.”

Both teams feature a three-guard lineup and a mobile, explosive big man.

In Lee’s case, “big” is putting it mildly. Daniel He, the Pandas’ 6-foot-7 sophomore center, chalked up 15 points and 11 rebounds Tuesday in Lee’s 64-42 Eastern Class C championship victory over Sumner.

“The biggest thing we need to do is stop penetration, because most of his offense comes from the point guard,” Dirigo coach Rebecca Fletcher. “We have to make sure we put a body on him and get him off the glass. That’s where most of his scoring comes from. Not that that’s an easy task.”

It’s further complicated by the explosiveness and length of the Pandas’ backcourt.

Senior guard A.J. Harris, son of coach Randy Harris, is the smallest of the group but is the Pandas’ other go-to guy.

Backcourt mates Bryan James and Arturas Makovskis provide a little bit of everything, as evidenced by James’ 18 points, five assists and five rebounds and Makovskis’ double-digit boards in the regional final.

“They have a lot of threats,” Dirigo senior Spencer Ross said.

Dirigo (19-2) is the team with experience, at least by name. The Cougars are playing in their third straight state final, joining Falmouth (four, from 1996 to ’99) and Freeport (1958 to ’60) as the only Western Maine programs to do so.

Ross and 6-4 junior center Cody St. Germain were the only Cougars to see significant time during last year’s tournament run, when Dirigo featured five senior starters.

“They’re not last year’s team. They’re not two years ago’s team,” Fletcher said. “They’re a totally different team playing totally different opponents.”

Those Mountain Valley Conference foes had catastrophic difficulty putting the ball in the hoop against Dirigo, some producing numbers that hearkened back to the peach-basket days.

Carrabec clawed out nine points. Mt. Abram mustered 12. Winthrop limped to 14.

In 12 of the Cougars’ 16 regular-season wins, they allowed 40 points or fewer.

“I had hopes, but those are different from expectations. I knew if we were willing to compete and play defense, we could play with anybody,” Fletcher said. “I think it also gives us momentum in terms of emotionally when our defense is clicking and when we’re attacking the other team that way. It lifts us up.”

Defense carried Dirigo through the tournament, fueling the Cougars’ offense for the one brilliant stretch that made the difference in each game.

St. Germain leads the team in scoring and rebounding. Balance was the buzzword during the playoffs, however, with Turbide, Ross and Ben Holmes each averaging around 10 points per game. Caleb Turner is a playmaker at both ends.

“Our chemistry helps us out a lot, and you can see it on the court,” Turbide said. “We just kind of look to this game as another game. The matchups will be different. We just look to play defense and run the ball and hopefully have success like we have the first three playoff games.”

Dirigo’s sheer numbers don’t stack up with Lee’s, but the Cougars hope that hints at an advantage.

All three regional playoff games tested Dirigo with tense moments. Livermore Falls and Waynflete kept it close for a half. Boothbay rallied from a 13-point deficit and forced Dirigo to make free throws in the last minute of the championship game.

MVC challenges included two overtime battles with Boothbay, an emotional split with Mountain Valley and tussles with Telstar and Livermore Falls.

Dirigo led each of its two preceding trips to the final before falling to Calais (40-39) and Washington (70-58).

“The first two we started out strong and got ahead. We need to maintain our composure throughout the whole game, and hopefully we’ll have a better outcome,” Ross said.

Lee is looking for its first-ever state title. Dirigo hasn’t hoisted the Gold Ball since winning back-to-back championships in 1982 and ’83.

[email protected]