CUMBERLAND—Greely’s boys’ basketball team has discovered plenty about itself in recent days.

The Rangers learned that they’re resilient, occasionally brilliant and that when they’re pushed to the limit physically and emotionally, they have the ability to dig deep and wind up triumphant.

Saturday afternoon, four days after arguably the most memorable regular season victory in program history and less than 24 hours after a key road win, Greely hosted a high-scoring Poland squad that hoped to catch the Rangers napping.

But instead, Greely produced yet another palpitating show and put the cherry on the sundae of a week for the ages.

Both teams came out sizzling and when Knights senior Brady Lawrence buried a 3-pointer from halfcourt at the first quarter buzzer, the visitors had a 21-20 lead.

But the Rangers went on top to stay 11 seconds into the second period on a 3-point shot from senior Tyler Pettengill and behind strong play from Pettengill and fellow starters seniors Hayden MacArthur and Seamus Raftice, junior Jackson Leding and sophomore Kade Ippolito, opened up a 44-32 advantage at the half.

Poland hoped to make a run in the third quarter, but Leding, who scored 11 points in the frame, drained a late 3 to allow Greely to take a 69-53 lead to the final stanza.

There, the Rangers were never seriously threatened and went on to an 89-66 victory.

Raftice scored 25 points, Pettengill added 20, Ippolito finished with 15 and Leding had 13 as Greely won its third game in a row, improved to 9-7 and in the process, dropped the Knights to 4-12.

“It’s been a long week, but it’s been good,” said Rangers coach Travis Seaver. “We’ve played a lot of basketball, not always good basketball, but that’s how you learn. I think we’re playing better than we were and the things we’re still not doing are becoming more obvious to the guys. Our conversations about what we need to do are more pointed.”

Unthinkable

Much of Greely’s season was unremarkable, as the Rangers flirted with the .500 mark and weren’t viewed as a top contender in Class A South, but Greely had produced some victories in the final seconds.

The Rangers opened with a 54-49 loss at Fryeburg Academy, downed visiting Brunswick on Raftice’s buzzer-beater, 43-42, then dropped a 66-59 decision at Class AA South contender Gorham, lost at home to Gray-New Gloucester (57-36) and fell at York (61-51). Greely then beat host Freeport (72-41), visiting York (53-50) and visiting Yarmouth (58-48). After losing at reigning Class A South champion Falmouth (51-37), the Rangers downed visiting Cape Elizabeth (57-40). Greely then dropped a 62-60 decision at Lake Region on a last-second basket before edging visiting Wells (59-57) and losing at red-hot Yarmouth (59-36).

Then came Tuesday at home versus Fryeburg Academy and a game that will never, ever be forgotten.

The Rangers showed up as a sub-.500 team that was generating little buzz, but by night’s end, Greely (and Fryeburg Academy) was all anyone could talk about in the Maine high school basketball world.

With a relatively non-descript victory seemingly at hand, the Rangers let a 10-point lead slip away late and the game went to overtime.

And another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another and finally an eighth OT, which is believed to be a state record (the national record is 13 set in North Carolina back in 1964).

The game nearly needed a ninth extra session before Ippolito scored with 0.6 seconds on the clock to give Greely a 117-115 victory.

The Rangers were exhilarated, exhausted and suddenly, in demand from multiple media outlets.

“I’m still thinking about that shot every night before I go to bed,” said Ippolito, who missed some key free throws during the overtimes that could have ended the game sooner before scoring the redemptive, final hoop. “It was a surreal moment. It was relief and exhilaration. I think we all wanted to go home. Seeing the fans rush the court after staying that long was amazing. They’re so loyal and we love them. Being part of a historic moment was awesome. Everyone on this team will always remember that game. When we graduate. When we’re older.”

“It’s been crazy,” said Raftice, who scored 23 points in that contest. “Going into that game, we’d lost to (Fryeburg Academy) the first game of the season, so it was already a big game for us and we were trying to get back up to .500. No one ever thought it would go to eight overtimes, but it helped show us we could win a close game. It was exhausting. The energy was starting to get drained after three or four overtimes, but adrenaline was through the roof and we stayed together as a team and that brought our energy back up. We executed plays. Coach drew stuff up and we did it. Props to Tyler, hitting two buzzer-beaters (to force a third and sixth OT) and Kade made the game-winning shot. That was big for our team.”

“In the moment, it was just exhausting,” Seaver added. “It wasn’t until that night or Wednesday when I could take a step back and realize what happened. It wasn’t the prettiest basketball, but what was amazing was the big plays that both sides made. We executed in the big moments, shot after shot, right down to the last play, the kids did what we talk about doing in the big moments. It was super-special. It was great for these guys. No one around here can say they ever (played in a game like that). We had Wednesday off, then on Thursday we talked about moving on, but it was something special, very unique.”

Fortunately for the Rangers, they had two days off before their next game and after taking Wednesday off completely to rest, the team had a practice Thursday and Friday, they won a key game at Wells (60-53), as Pettengill scored 18 points and MacArthur added 15.

The Knights, meanwhile, won two of their first three games, but had prevailed just twice since, enduring losing skids of four- and five-games.

Friday night, Poland fell at Cape Elizabeth, 66-42.

The Knights and Rangers were twice scheduled to meet earlier in the season, but both games were postponed by bad weather.

Saturday, Greely continued to ride the wave of emotion that began to crest earlier in the week and served notice that it might just ride it deep into the postseason.

Ippolito hinted at a big game to come when he took a pass from MacArthur and made a layup while being fouled 39 seconds in, then added the and-one free throw to complete the old-fashioned three-point play open the scoring.

Poland drew even on a 3-pointer from senior Hayden Christner.

After Raftice scored his first two points at the foul line, Christner tied it again by driving for a layup.

Raftice then drained a 3 and MacArthur scored on a putback, but sophomore John Patenaude got a jumper to rattle in for the visitors, then senior Shane Yorkey set up Christner for a spinning layup to cut the deficit to 10-9.

After Ippolito scored on a putback, Christner drained another 3 to tie it and after Leding scored on a runner, Patenaude converted a three-point play (bank shot, foul, free throw) to give the Knights their first lead, 15-14.

Pettengill drained a 3 to put the Rangers back in front, then sophomore Ethan Michaud added a 3-ball from the corner, but after senior Hunter Brackett made a 3 for Poland, Lawrence sank his improbable prayer of a 3, from midcourt at the horn, and the Knights had a 21-20 advantage after a frenetic first period.

Greely would keep its scoring pace going in the second quarter, while Poland slowed down some.

Eleven seconds in, Pettengill’s long 3 gave the Rangers the lead and they wouldn’t look back.

“After that (halfcourt) shot, we knew it wouldn’t be handed to us and we had to execute, take care of the basketball, play strong defense and grind out the win,” said Raftice.

Pettengill then added another 3, which rolled around the rim and in, and after Christner countered with a jumper, Raftice drove for a layup, Pettengill fed Raftice for a layup, Ippolito scored on a putback, MacArthur made a free throw, then with 3:52 to go before halftime, MacArthur’s driving layup gave Greely a 35-23 advantage.

A Patenaude jumper snapped a 15-2 run and Christner added a runner in the lane to cut the deficit to eight, but Ippolito put home his own miss, then MacArthur got a jumper to bounce in to stretch the lead back to a dozen points.

After Patenaude hit a 3 for the Knights, Raftice sank two free throws, then senior Mitchell Bickford added another.

Patenaude scored on a finger roll for Poland’s final points of the first half before two foul shots from sophomore Andrew Padgett made it 44-32 Rangers at the break.

Raftice led Greely with 11 points in the first half, while Patenaude had 12 and Christner 10 for the Knights.

Offense continued to carry the day in the third quarter.

Leding heated up to start the second half, getting a jumper to roll in, then making another jumper, before two Raftice free throws made it 50-32.

After Lawrence made a layup for the visitors, MacArthur set up Ippolito for a layup, then MacArthur found Raftice for another layup and a 20-point bulge.

Christner countered with a long 3, but MacArthur set up Pettengill for a layup and after Patenaude banked home a shot, Leding’s jumper made it 58-39.

Christner made another 3, but Raftice countered with one of his own.

After Brackett made a jumper, Lawrence drove for a layup, but Pettengill stemmed the run with a 3-ball.

After Lawrence scored on a putback and Brackett did the same to cut the deficit to 64-50, Leding scored on a contested runner.

Christner made another long 3 with 30 seconds remaining, but Greely wrested momentum right back, as Michaud set up Leding for a 3 just before the horn to make it 69-53.

The Rangers didn’t relent early in the fourth period, as MacArthur lobbed the ball to Raftice for a layup, then Ratice set up Ippolito for a layup.

After Patenaude banked home a shot, Pettengill found Ippolito for a layup, then Pettengill buried a 3 from the corner for a 78-55 advantage.

After Yorkey banked home a shot and Pateneaude hit a jumper, Pettengill made another 3, MacArthur set up Rafice for a layup on the fastbreak, then Raftice converted a three-point play for his final points.

Down the stretch, freshman Damon Howze made a layup for Poland, then senior Gio Warren sank a 3 from the corner and Lawrence made a layup after a steal for his team’s final points.

Bickford then sank a foul shot before a layup from senior Tate Nadeau brought the curtain down on Greely’s 89-66 victory.

“It was tough to play back-to-back, but we grinded one out at Wells and today, we wanted to get another win and we did it,” Raftice said.

“We talked at halftime about having an opportunity to put the game away and we did that,” Seaver said. “At this point, every win for us matters. We’re basically playing a third of our season in 10 days.”

Raftice led all scorers with 25 points and he also contributed seven rebounds.

Pettengill (who scored 39 points in the eight-overtime contest) added 20 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Ippolito had a double-double of 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

Leding also finished in double figures with 13 points, to go with seven assists and five rebounds.

“Our starters need to continue to do that,” Seaver said. “We rely on them. That’s why they’re on the floor.”

MacArthur had seven points, a game-high 11 assists and six rebounds, Michaud tallied three points and Bickford, Nadeau and Padgett all wound up with two.

“We work as a team and we have a lot of guys on the floor who can score the basketball and play good defense,” said Raftice. “We have good defenders, but we still need to work together more and we’ll be all set.”

“A lot of kids are playing a lot of minutes, but we were able to play some other bodies tonight,” Seaver said. “Guys are being forced to play in different situations.”

The Rangers had a commanding 49-28 rebound advantage, made 10 3-pointers, hit 13-of-21 free throws and overcame 14 turnovers.

Poland’s offense was paced by Christner, who had 19 points. Patenaude added 18, Brackett and Lawrence (six rebounds and four assists) had 11 apiece, Warren finished with three and Howze and Yorkey (three assists) had two each.

The Knights turned the ball over 13 times and made just one free throw in three attempts.

Opportunity awaits

Poland (currently ranked 14th in the Class B South Heal Points standings) goes to Waynflete Monday, then closes the regular season Wednesday at home versus Yarmouth. Only 10 teams from the region qualify for the tournament.

Greely (now fifth in Class A South) is home versus Freeport Monday, then closes at Gray-New Gloucester Wednesday of next week.

Then, it’s the postseason, where the Rangers have to believe that anything is possible.

“We want to win out and be on a high going into the playoffs,” Raftice said. “We’ll prepare for the tournament. Like Coach always says, when it comes to the tournament, everyone’s record is 0-0. I think this year, it’s open and there’s an opportunity to go far. We want to try to seize that opportunity.”

“I think people doubted us since our first game, but we’ve proved we can compete and we can beat top teams,” said Ippolito. “I think our defense still needs a lot of work. In practice, we’ll go hard to improve in every category.”

“We’re in the tournament and at this point, we want to focus on playing our best basketball,” Seaver added. “We need to continue to get better and be ready in a couple weeks. The Class A tournament, there’s a lot of room for someone to do something special and we just want it to be us. We have to show consistency and play for four quarters. We have the tools to do that.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.

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