“We got a couple of baskets at the end of the third and that made a big difference,” Buckfield coach Mark Thurlow said.

The Bucks responded to a Rangeley comeback bid with a late surge in the third to  retake the lead, setting the tone for a strong final quarter and a 50-43 win.

Both teams are battling for playoff positioning in Western D. The Bucks (4-8) are seventh while Rangeley (3-7) is 11th. The Bucks also beat the Lakers 59-41 earlier in the season.

“We’ve got two wins on them so (now) we’re hoping they win,” Thurlow said.

The Bucks were up 24-13 at the half but watched the Lakers rally with a strong third quarter. Rangeley scored 11 straight points to tie the game. The Lakers even took the lead briefly late in the quarter.

“I love the way they played,” Rangeley coach Jeff LaRochelle said. “They made a game of it. It was starting to go the other way. That’s what happened when we played them the last time. It was definitely an improvement.”

Hunter Wiley led the Bucks with eight points while Jared Eastman and Jake Kraske each had seven in a balanced attack for the Bucks. Tyler Vallee, Jon Randolph and Zack Grover each had six.

“I think rebounding and defense carried us,” Thurlow said. “We didn’t execute at all offensively.”

Rangeley got 20 from Tim White and seven from Kyle LaRochelle. Wyatt Dellavalle had six before leaving the game with an injury.

“What gets us is that our youth shows up,” said LaRochelle, whose team has just one  senior and seven freshmen or eighth graders. “It’s not one kid but a couple of them. We don’t have a go-to scorer. So we have to get shots and not have turnovers.”

The Lakers shrugged off the first half with an energized third. White had a pair of baskets while LaRochelle and Devon Clark each scored. Hunter Lowell and Dellavalle chipped in from the line as the Lakers tied the game 24-24 with 3:51 left in the third.

Rangeley hit four of its first six shots in the quarter while the Bucks had six turnovers and shot 4-for-13.

“We let their pressure bother us,” Thurlow said. “We shouldn’t have let it bother us but we did. We didn’t get the ball to the middle a couple of times. Guys ran back when they were supposed to be coming to the middle.”

Buckfield didn’t score until 3:25 remained in the third. Sidney Jackson had a pair of baskets to give the Bucks the lead. After a free throw by White, Rangeley got a jumper from LaRochelle and a steal by Dellavalle for the 29-28 lead with 1:30 left. The Buck finished the quarter with an Alec Brough basket off an inbounds pass and a drive by Kraske for the 32-29 lead.

The Bucks had the lead up to as many as 11 after a 10-2 run in the fourth. Grover, Wiley and Kraske scored six straight points and two free throws by Wiley made it 40-33. Then a pair of baskets by Grover bumped the advantage to 44:33 with 2:39 left.

“My seniors Tyler and Jared, I lean on them really hard,” Thurlow said. “Zack had some nice baskets down the stretch.”

Rangeley had one last late rally in them. The Lakers got a three-point play by LaRochelle. Then a 3 by White and another basket off a steal made it 46-41 with 1:25 remaining. The Lakers had a possession and a chance to get closer but two shots didn’t fall. The Bucks got the rebound and added free throws by Wiley and Eastman in the final minute.

“I said to the guys that if you lose a game by five or six points that’s three possessions,” LaRochelle said. “That’s a couple more fouls shots. Everybody can find one turnover or one travel that they could fix. We easily could be 5-5 or 6-4. We’ve been that close.”

The Bucks had a 7-5 lead after the first quarter and then opened the lead up to 21-9 at one point in the second. The Lakers couldn’t hit a shot while the Bucks used a 10-1 surge to open the lead. The Bucks took a 24-13 lead into the half.

“The first half was awful,” LaRochelle said. “What’s happened in the past is that they’d give up and stop playing. We keep talking about playing a 32-minute game and keeping our heads in the game for 32 minutes.”

kmills@sunjournal.com