No more walking past a row of Gold Balls almost long enough to buttress the wall outside Defoe Gymnasium and being besieged by the knowledge that they aren’t stakeholders in any of them.

Dirigo drenched a 29-year drought and kissed away four years of frustration Saturday night with a 74-67 triumph over Lee Academy at Augusta Civic Center.

“It reminds me of when the Red Sox finally won,” senior guard Caleb Turner said.

There are some distant parallels.

Just as ardent fans of the Olde Towne Team celebrated the mixed emotions of other New England franchises winning the ultimate prize, Dirigo unwittingly magnified its own hoop shortfalls by winning the 2009 football and 2010 baseball state titles.

Then there was the run of 11 consecutive Western C girls’ championships, including six state crowns, that the current boys are old enough to remember.

Plus, nobody needs to remind the Cougars that this was their fourth straight shot at the final. Dirigo lost by a point to Calais in 2009 and fell by double digits to Washington and Lee academies the past two years.

“I’m so lucky to be part of a community like this and a team like this,” said Ben Holmes, who scored 13 second-half points to punctuate his final game with the Cougars. “We’ve had some great teams here.”

There was the scary and startlingly real proposition that one of Dirigo’s best teams would wander into history without a championship, thanks to a talented Lee group that represented the Cougars’ personal New York Yankees.

Although the Pandas are arguably a notch below the team that won last year’s final 65-55 at Bangor Auditorium, they swapped haymakers with the Cougars all night.

Saturday’s rematch was tied at the end of the first, second and third quarters. For a while, every time Holmes, Cody St. Germain or Josh Turbide dialed up a huge shot for Dirigo, Lee’s Boubacar Diallo, Jasil Elder or D.J. Johnson answered on the first ring.

“Coach (Travis Magnusson) told us it was going to be a battle. We knew it wasn’t going to be like the Western Maine tournament. We just had to take care of it until the end and we did,” Turbide said. “They tie their shoes in the morning just like we do. They’re players just like us, and we had to battle them the whole time.”

In the end, Dirigo’s star power, balance, closeness and ability to summon a surprise hero won out.

The shot heard around RSU 10 for the next 50 years was fired by Hunter Ross, a junior generously listed at 5-foot-8 and known primarily for his defensive exploits.

With Lee blanketing 3-point ace Turbide and the final seconds of the third period melting away, Turbide shoveled the ball to Ross in the far corner, not far from Dirigo’s water cooler. Television replays showed Ross fully obscured by teammates and defenders as he unleashed from beyond the stripe.

Swish. Game tied at 53.

“It was pretty nice. It’s the first three I’ve made all year,” Ross said.

Ross already had delivered an even larger impact with his physical and psychological defensive work off the bench against Johnson and Diallo.

Diallo, Lee’s explosive point guard with a feathery shooting touch, was held to three points in the second half after erupting for 16 before intermission. Johnson was limited to 12.

“That’s just Hunter. He’s an elite defender. You wait until next year. He’ll be shutting down the No. 1 scorers in the league,“ Turner said. “I’ve read myself being called one of the best defenders in the state, and he’s two times the defender I am.”

And while Lee’s marquee names stumbled to the finish line, Dirigo’s fabulous five dominated.

St. Germain closed the book with one of his finest games, concluding with 26 points. He and Holmes were unstoppable in the paint down the stretch. Dirigo was 7-for-7 from the field in the fourth quarter.

“I’ll admit I was feeling it tonight. I felt like I couldn’t miss in the second half,” St. Germain said. “It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve been saying all year we’re the best team in the state, and I feel like we proved it.”

“We’ve been so balanced all year. Anybody can hurt you. But tonight we felt they couldn’t stop us inside,” Magnusson added. “Guys just played incredible. They took it to the rim and they made unbelievable shots all night.”

Holmes and senior classmate Jake Dowland are now part of a short — perhaps exclusive — list of Maine athletes who have played on championship teams in three different sports. Each was part of the preceding football and baseball titlists.

Then comes the elephant-in-the-room footnote. With the proposal for consolidation of Dirigo and Mountain Valley schools that became public in the days leading up to the state final, there is an outside chance that Saturday was the final basketball game in Dirigo’s dynamic history.

“They’re a special, special group. They’ve wanted this all year long and they’ve earned it,” Magnusson said. “It’s been 29 years for the boys’ programs here, and we’re just so happy for the group that brought it home.”

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