By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

PORTLAND — For Evan Willey, the Black Bears were no real mystery.

Lake Region’s junior center is quite familiar with top-seed Maranacook since four of the Bears are teammates of Willey’s in AAU play.

“I know how they play,” Willey said Monday as the Lakers prepped for their Class B South semifinal showdown with Maranacook. “I’ll talk to my team and tell them what they’re going to do. We have to stay together and play as a team. We have to make sure we get back on defense because they like to run. And run fast.”

The Black Bears can also score bunches of points really quick, too.

Just when Lake Region seemed to shake off a rough start to Tuesday night’s Class B South semifinal at the Portland Expo, the Black Bears delivered a knockout punch that the Lakers could never recover from.

Trailing 13-3, the Lakers clawed back with a pair of 3-pointers from Ethan McMurray and Isaac Holland (at the buzzer) to end the quarter. Holland drained another 3-ball to start the second, and it appeared the Lakers were on track to give the Black Bears a run for their money.

Not quite.

Tim Worster buried three 3-pointers and the Bears went on a 14-0 run in a matter of a couple of minutes to go up 15 points.

LR never recovered.

Worster scored a game-high 20 points, and Cash McClure — who took a shot to the nose on a hard drive by Holland causing a nose bleed and forcing him to the lockerroom for a short time — netted 19 points to lead Maranacook to a convincing 64-40 win.

The Black Bears (18-2) advance to the finals Friday at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland against sixth-seed Wells (10-10), which ousted Cape Elizabeth. The Bears will look to return to the state finals, which they won in 2006 and 2008 coming out of Eastern Class B.

The Lakers finish 9-11 under first-year coach Ryan Martin.

“They are a dynamic team. They have a lot of guys that can shoot it, a lot of guys who can run up and down the floor. They’re a team that can score quickly. Our focus was to get back on defense and stop transition points. But, great teams find ways to score. They’re a great team. They’re tough to stop,” Coach Ryan Martin said. “We got some good looks, but missed a bunch of shots.”

Unlike their win against Mountain Valley, the Lakers struggled to get the ball to drop, be it from the foul line (4-of-14) or from the field (13-of-56).

Part was due to the game’s pace, as well as the Black Bears dominating the glass, holding a 41-28 advantage.

“They’re tough to stop because of how quick they get up the court,” Coach Martin said. “We’re trying to match up but got into a scramble situation because they had five guys running the floor. They made the right passes and made the open shots. They love to score quickly and in bunches.”

LR was unable to get defensive stops in the second as the Bears went on a 24-9 run with five players figuring in the scoring, including six from Casey Cormier. LR shot a dismal 3-of-17 from the floor and trailed the Bears 37-18 at the half.

With a big lead, Maranacook attacked the paint for most of the third quarter, scoring just one 3-pointer as Elijas Berghdal swished a corner trey. Holland and Jacob Stone each netted a 3-pointer, but the Lakers managed just 10 points in the quarter, unable to connect on several drives to the rim.

After going to the line just four times over the first three quarters, the Lakers made 10 trips to the charity stripe in the fourth period — but like most of the night, nothing came easy there. LR went 3-of-10.

As Coach Martin subbed in several reserves over the final three minutes, he kept Holland on the floor. The senior closed out his high school career with his fourth 3-pointer of the night and added a short jumper in the closing seconds — the Lakers only field goals of the fourth period.

While frustration and disappointment dominated the expressions of players as they walked off the court, Coach Martin was very proud of the way his Lakers battled to the final horn and how far the group had come this season.

“I am proud of our guys because they played hard for 32 minutes. It shows a lot about the guys on this team. It shows a lot about their character. It easy that when you get punched in the face a few times, you give up and fold. These guys kept responding. They gave it their all. You have nothing to hang your head about when you do everything in your power to do the best you can, individually and as a team,” Coach Martin said. “We have three guys — seniors Derek Langadas, Ethan McMurray and Isaac Holland — who we are going to miss a lot because of their leadership. They bring energy to us when things aren’t going well. They keep guys together. You see how they get guys to huddle up before every free throw. That leadership and communication are huge.”

Although the Lakers fell short of their ultimate goal, Coach Martin enjoyed the journey.

““I’m pleased that I had a bunch of coachable guys, who love basketball and are willing to work hard. When you have that, it makes coaching fun. I’ve enjoyed coming every single day to work with those 13 guys because of their work ethic, their passion for basketball and their togetherness,” the coach said.