The Lawrence of Fairfield boys basketball program has thrived in the role of underdog for decades, perhaps since avenging a 53-point Senior Night loss to Waterville in 1986 to upset the defending state champions in that year’s Eastern Maine Class A title game.
The Bulldogs are underdogs again Friday night when they face two-time defending state champion Greely of Cumberland Center in the Class A state final, set for a 7:45 p.m. start at the Augusta Civic Center.
Coach Jason Pellerin’s club, which went a combined 10-26 over the previous two seasons, shook off an 0-4 start this winter to earn the No. 4 seed in Class A North with a 10-8 record.
[See the latest 2019 Maine high school basketball tourney brackets here]
Lawrence then emerged from the regional pack thanks in great part to veteran leadership. The ’Dogs have five starting seniors led by point guard Kobe Nadeau, winner of the Al Halliday Award as the most outstanding player in the regional, and a defense that yielded just 46.7 points per game in wins over No. 5 Erskine Academy of South China (53-38), top-ranked Cony of Augusta (63-56) and No. 7 Skowhegan (47-40) in the championship game.
Lawrence is playing in its first state final in 20 years and seeking its first state championship since 1994.
Top-ranked Greely captured its third straight Class A South crown thanks in part to a balanced offense that averaged 67.7 points during tourney wins over No. 8 Mt. Ararat of Topsham (70-46), No. 5 Kennebunk (69-62) and No. 3 Falmouth (64-48).
[Greely boys to defend Class A state title after regional final win over Falmouth]
Coach Travis Seaver’s Rangers (18-3) boast two of the 10 semifinalists for this year’s Mr. Maine Basketball award: 6-foot-6 center Andrew Storey, winner of the Jack Coyne Award as most outstanding player of the Class A South regional, and 6-3 guard Zach Brown.
Greely is 62-3 over the last three seasons, having won 46 games in a row before suffering its first loss since 2016 on Dec. 14 to Class AA South Portland.
Two of the Rangers’ losses this winter were to Class AA teams, with the other AA loss coming to Oxford Hills of South Paris. The lone defeat to a Class A team was a 57-51 decision at No. 2 York on Jan. 8, a loss Greely avenged at home with a 71-60 victory on Feb. 5.
