BANGOR — The Maranacook Community School boys basketball team started a new tradition this season. On the way to the Bangor Auditorium for each tournament game, the Black Bears popped into Dysart’s, a truck stop just south of Bangor. It’s always been sound advice to eat where the truckers eat, but who knew such a pregame meal would lead to such big things? With their bellies full of good eats, the Black Bears capped the banquet that is the Class B boys basketball tournament with a 56-46 win over Cape Elizabeth, giving Maranacook its second state championship in three years.

The Black Bears finished the season with a perfect 22-0 record, while the Capers finished 19-3.

“I had a salad just like every other time,” said Maranacook senior Will Bardaglio of his pregame meal. “We started it this year, and it worked out.”

A Bardaglio 3-pointer with 6 minutes, 47 seconds left in the game put the Black Bears on top 43-40, and gave Maranacook the lead for good. Mike Poulin nailed a 3-pointer less than a minute later to push the lead to 46-42. When Cape Elizabeth’s Shaine Burks fell while trying to defend Ryan Martin off a Conrad Gilman screen, Martin cooly sank the wide open 3-pointer with just over three minutes left to give the Black Bears a 51-46 lead.

“That was a great screen. I was left wide open and I had to hit the shot,” said Martin, a Mr. Basketball semifinalist who scored a game-high 26 points. Martin went 4 for 4 at the line in the final minute to help the Black Bears seal the win.

“They’ve hit the big shots their whole career,” Maranacook coach Rob Schmidt said. “It’s just amazing how often they do that.”

Some of the things that got the Black Bears this far, such as clutch free-throw shooting and a strong effort from 3-point range, worked against Cape Elizabeth. The Capers were able to take away Maranacook’s potent transition game and make the Black Bears play their slower, halfcourt style.

That helped Cape Elizabeth turn a nine point second quarter deficit into a four-point lead midway through the third quarter.

“To their credit, they took away our sideline break. They knew what to do and how to defend it, and that’s a huge part of our game,” Schmidt said. “If we can’t get that ball down the side, it takes away a lot of our options.” “I thought our guys did a heck of a job defensively. They really did,” Cape Elizabeth coach Jim Ray said. “But we’ve got to play both sides of the basketball and I don’t think we played as intelligent a game as we needed to on the offensive end.”

Martin scored 11 of his 26 points in the first quarter, including three 3-pointers, helping the Black Bears take a 15-10 lead after one quarter.

“In the beginning of the game, I thought they were sagging off me a little, and they were giving me a little bit of space,” Martin said. “That opened up a little bit of penetration later in the game.”

A Poulin bucket gave Maranacook its largest lead of the game, 25-16, midway through the second quarter. Cape Elizabeth rallied to take a 36-32 lead with 4:03 left in the third quarter, mostly on the backs of Alex Bowe (15 points) and Andrew Dickey (13 points). Bowe and Dickey combined to score 19 of the Capers’ 21 second half points.

“We wanted to get into an uptempo game with them, and they played their style and it was more of a halfcourt game, and we had to fight for every basket we got,” Martin said.

Martin’s pregame tradition of eating a Subway sandwich trumped the team’s visit to Dysart’s, and the sharpshooter sat patiently while his teammates ate. That didn’t mean Martin wasn’t ready for a postgame visit to the Black Bears’ good luck restaurant.

“I’m hoping we go there right now,” Martin said.

Wherever Martin got a postgame meal, he ate it knowing he and his teammates had added a second gold ball to Maranacook’s trophy case, and that made everything taste better.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com