After giving away a 15-point lead and falling behind Bangor with just under six minutes remaining, the Blue Devils rode the shoulders of Isaiah Harris, Trever Irish and Tykeem Gaines to an authoritative 61-49 KVAC victory.

When the Blue Devils are healthy, dribbling in the same direction, and sharing the basketball among their cadre of freakish athletes, they can, and just might, beat any team in the state.

“We’ve got shooters. We’ve got big men. We’ve got attackers. We’ve got everything,” Harris said. “If we’re all clicking on the same day, I don’t think anyone can beat us.”

Harris, the 6-foot-4 forward bound for Penn State on a track scholarship, broke a few more hoop recruiters’ hearts with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Irish, 6-foot-10 with soft hands and developing feet, added 16 points, 18 rebounds and six blocked shots.

The two dunked on consecutive possessions — Harris on a breakaway after his own steal, Irish via the offensive boards — to give Lewiston a 57-48 lead with 2:42 left.

Gaines, who was benched throughout an overtime loss Tuesday at Oxford Hills, scored five of his 13 points in the fourth quarter.

“Those two dunks were big, and just the rebounding we got out of them,” Lewiston coach Tim Farrar said. “Also, their teammates realize we need to get them the ball. We did that, I thought, the other night, but tonight we did an even better job.”

Lewiston (7-6) avenged an 36-32 loss to Bangor (4-9) on Dec. 5 and gave itself some breathing room in the Class A East Heal Point standings. The Blue Devils nudged ahead one notch to No. 7, while the Rams are narrowly ahead of Mt. Ararat for the ninth and final spot.

Down 12-2 out of the gate and 25-10 with 4:27 to go in the first half, the Rams recovered from a 1-for-14 start to make a game of it.

Liam Harrigan led Bangor with 20 points. Andrew Hillier added 10, all in the second half, including three 3-pointers.

“We wanted redemption, because they beat us the first game, and we felt like we should have won that game,” Harris said. “The third quarter was a lot like the first game, and we said we’re not going to let this happen again.”

Bangor scored seven unanswered points to start the second half and claw within five at 29-24.

Harrigan trimmed it to 32-30 with a 3-point play before Lewiston hit four consecutive shots — two by Harris, one each from Gaines and Irish to restore the double-digit advantage.

“We played together. We were unselfish. Coach said that was the best we’ve passed the ball through a zone all year,” Irish said. “Because we were unselfish, it allowed everyone to do what we were supposed to do.”

Bangor wasn’t finished. Harrigan drove for a basket, then dished to Hillier for a 3-pointer to cut the deficit in half.

Hillier set up Dane Johnson’s 3-point play to tie it at 43, and Hillier sank the second of two free throws to furnish the Rams’ lone lead with 5:53 left.

“They’re the best team in the league at creating space,” Farrar said of Bangor. “Hillier can knock it down. Harrigan can knock it down. You look up and say, ‘Holy cow, they’re coming back here.’ They don’t make a lot of mistakes.”

Harris answered with a second-chance basket to retrieve the lead for good. Harrigan’s pull-up jumper made it 47-46, but it was Bangor’s final field goal.

Irish triggered an ensuing 8-0 run with a 3-point play. Harris’ jam applied the exclamation point. Gaines sandwiched three points between those highlights.

“A lot of times when we had the fast break we slowed it down, passed the ball around and hit the open man,” Irish said.

Quintarian Brown and Tylon Myers also combined for three free throws down the stretch for Lewiston.

The Devils averted what would have been their second three-game losing streak of the season while dealing the Rams their fifth consecutive defeat.

“There were a lot of wet eyes and hurt hearts the other night,” Farrar said. “After a grind like that, it takes a lot out of you.”

koakes@sunjournal.com