QuickTake:

The Marist boys built a late lead to claim their sixth state title, while the Springfield girls claimed second place after losing a tight game. Thurston's boys claimed fourth place with a win.

The Marist Catholic boys team built a late lead and held on to defeat La Grande 57-55 and claim the school’s sixth state championship Saturday, March 14.

But the Springfield girls team stumbled in the third quarter of its 5A championship game Saturday and couldn’t close the gap, losing to West Albany 51-48.

Earlier Saturday, the Thurston boys earned fourth-place honors in the 5A tournament with a thrilling 59-57 win over Canby.

Here are summaries of the three Saturday games involving Lane County teams on the final day of the high school basketball season:

Marist 57, La Grande 55

Powered by Bodey Drennan’s 14 second-half points, the Spartans pulled away late in the fourth quarter to defeat the Tigers 57-55 and win their sixth 4A state championship Saturday at Forest Grove High School.

Two free throws by Aarav King with 19.6 seconds to play provided the winning margin, boosting the Spartan lead to 57-49. As it turned out, Marist needed those last two points, as the Tigers hit a pair of 3-pointers — the last as the buzzer sounded — to cut the final margin to 57-55.

The Tigers raced to a 15-10 lead after the first quarter and built a 12-point lead with about four minutes to play before halftime. But the Spartans were able to narrow the lead to 24-21 at the half and closed the rest of the gap in the third, which ended with the teams tied at 39.

In the fourth quarter, the Spartans put 18 points on the board behind 5-of-10 shooting from the field and six free throws (out of 11 attempts).

Gianni Lombardi scored 15 points for the Spartans. Gabe Dietmeyer added 11 points and collected 10 rebounds, while Colton Boresek scored 10 points.

The Marist boys improved to 6-1 in state championship games.

Marist finished the season with a 20-7 record.

West Albany 51, Springfield 48

In the 5A girls championship game, Springfield stumbled in the third quarter and couldn’t quite catch up, losing a 51-48 heartbreaker to West Albany.

After the Millers raced to a 12-6 lead after the first quarter, the Bulldogs pulled almost even by halftime, trailing 23-22. But the Bulldogs went 7-of-8 from the field in the third quarter, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range, to outscore the Millers 20-12 in the quarter and take a 42-35 lead into the fourth.

The Millers made only three of their 11 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter, but closed to 48-45 with about a minute to go on a Nuari Filipe 3-pointer. But those were the final points the Millers scored until Sailor Hall hit a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds on the clock to cut the lead to 49-48. Hall fouled Bulldog Cate Kurth on the ensuing inbounds pass, and Kurth hit both foul shots to give the Bulldogs a 51-48 lead. The Millers could not get a shot off before the final buzzer.

Filipe had a huge game for the Millers, scoring 26 points and collecting 8 rebounds.

The win marked the third straight game in which the Bulldogs, the No. 5 seed in the tourney, defeated a higher-seeded team; in addition to the championship win against No. 2 Springfield, the Bulldogs beat No. 4 Crater and No. 1 Redmond.

In addition to their state runners-up trophy, the Millers (24-5) finished first in the Midwestern League.

Thurston 59, Canby 57

Lucas LaBounty scored 30 points, including a late 3-pointer to give Thurston the lead, as the Colts rallied past Canby for a 59-57 victory Saturday to claim fourth place at the 5A boys basketball tourney.

The Colts, down 44-37 entering the fourth quarter, outscored the Cougars 22-13 the rest of the way to claim the win, and two clutch buckets by LaBounty were crucial.

With Thurston down by a point with 90 seconds left, LaBounty drove for a layup to put the Colts up 55-54. After Canby’s Jaxon Lawson hit a 3-pointer to put the Cougars back on top, LaBounty hit a 3-pointer of his own with about a minute to play to give the Colts a 58-57 advantage.

After Leofatu Filipe blocked a Lawson shot. Treyson Hill drew a foul and hit one of his two foul shots to push the lead to 59-57.

On Canby’s next possession, Lawson appeared to hit another 3-pointer, but the Cougars had called a timeout just before the shot. On the game’s final possession, Filipe blocked a final Lawson shot (one of three blocks for Filipe).

LaBounty finished the game with 12-of-14 shooting from the field, including three 3-pointers. Hill and Filipe each added 10 points.

The Colts finish their fourth-place season with a 22-6 record. Canby finishes the season with a 19-9 record and a sixth-place trophy.

Mike McInally is a Pacific Northwest journalist with four decades of experience in Oregon and Montana, including stints as editor of the Corvallis Gazette-Times and the Albany Democrat-Herald.