READFIELD – The boys’ basketball crowd isn’t quite as copious or boisterous at Maranacook this winter, yet, so most anybody in the gym Thursday night could hear the Oak Hill coaching staff’s frequent cries of “Shooter!”

Those desperate pleas not to leave the wings and corners unmanned say a mouthful about the program that owns two of the last three Class B boys’ hoop championships. Maranacook might have three 2008 graduates playing college basketball, but ’09 is anything but a lost cause.

Devin Gerrity drained four of Maranacook’s eight 3-pointers, doing all his damage in the first half and boosting the Black Bears to a 78-58 KVAC victory over the Raiders.

Ryan Martin (Maine), Will Bardaglio (Colby-Sawyer) and Mike Poulin (Southern Maine) may be gone, but the art of the long-range launch isn’t forgotten.

“People are saying we might not be as good at the ‘3,’ but we definitely have Jeff Duplisea and Devin Gerrity who can stick it just as good as anybody,” said senior guard Pat Norwood. “We definitely use that as motivation.”

Norwood neglected to mention himself. He drained two treys on his way to a team-high 16 points. Gerrity dropped in 14. Duplisea and David Clough also delivered from beyond the arc.

Maranacook’s new offensive identity is built around the brawn of 6-foot-8, 260-pound Ben Johnson. With Oak Hill dropping into a 2-3 zone and doubling down on the junior center, it challenged the Black Bears (3-2) to summon a page from their recent history book.

“Gerrity was shooting the lights out, and we knew he could do that,” said Oak Hill coach Bruce Nicholas. “We went zone, which we typically don’t run, to mirror him. But we’ve hardly practiced since the ice storm, so we didn’t get a chance to work on some of the things we wanted to do.”

Even with Gerrity standing at the end of three rainbows from just in front of the Oak Hill bench, the Raiders (0-4) trailed by a manageable four points, 19-15, after one period.

Six transition points from Norwood keyed a 20-6 swing in the second stanza. Maranacook held Oak Hill to 2-for-12 shooting and forced eight turnovers in that span to accumulate a 39-21 halftime edge.

“It was falling for us,” said Maranacook coach Rob Schmidt. “They collapsed very well on Ben, and we came up with some timely shots. We’re not consistently hitting them like we need to.”

Having lost its first three contests by a combined 17 points, Oak Hill never let its toughest test to date get completely out of hand, either.

Two 3-pointers by Shawn Greenier fueled a 16-2 run late in the third period, whittling a 26-point margin to a dozen. Maranacook answered with 10 consecutive points, all from Norwood and Johnson, and set sail.

Johnson finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Clough added nine. Point guard Sam Poulin coupled six points with six assists.

Greenier led four Raiders in double figures with 14 points while dishing out seven assists. Ben Foss added 11 points. Ben Rines and Cameron Morin each chipped in 10. Oak Hill hit six 3-pointers in its own right.

“It’s been a while since we’ve even been within 40 (points of Maranacook), so I guess it’s a little bit of a moral victory,” Nicholas said. “We’ve got to carry this over to Saturday night. We’ve got Winslow at home, and maybe we can get one.”