LOWELL – Wareham head coach Steve Faniel admitted he had a certain score from the regular season posted on the home court scoreboard during every practice as a reminder for his squad for a full effort to win every game.

In the end, the blood, sweat, and tears and the subtle remainder were all worth it for the storybook ending for the two-time state champion Vikings.

Wareham (23-3) lost to Bourne back on Jan. 26, 71-61, on their home court and turned the heat up to finish off what they started. The loss to the Canalmen was the last time the Vikings would lose this season as they capped their 12th win in a row with an 86-71 victory over the Canalmen and collected the Div. 4 boys state championship along the way for the second year in a row at the Tsongas Arena.

“I’ve been watching these kids since the fourth grade, we recruited them to come here, and we told them if they came here, this was going to happen. And for this to actually happen is unbelievable,” said Faniel.

“If the group stayed together and does what they are supposed to do, but it doesn’t always work out this way. They completed every chapter, every checkbox, and it’s been an incredible ride.”

The win gives Wareham back-to-back state titles for the first time in program history and sends nine of their seniors home winners including Ajay Lopes who finished things in style with a game-high 25 points.

“I don’t like to talk about myself that much, but I know I am the leader of this team right here and I’m glad I am and glad they chose me,” said Lopes, who is leaning towards postgraduate schools after the year ends. “We had a 14-3 run at the end (of the half), and I kept saying – ‘It’s not over yet, they can still come back’.”

The game was nip and tuck throughout with the first quarter ending in a tie 15-15, but as Lopes alluded, Wareham finished off the final 2:10 of the first half with a 14-3 run to take a 42-34 lead into the locker room.

Aaron Cote (15 points) hit two bookend three-pointers in the run with the first giving the Vikings the lead for good, 33-31.

One of the few players coming back next season, Amare Rose, was outstanding with 19 points, 14 in the first half, as the freshman’s energy off the bench ignited the Vikings.

Cote finished things off with a corner trey with the assist from Lopes as he drove into the paint at the halftime buzzer to give Wareham the nine-point lead.

“This game he had to prove something, and Aaron showed he is great and can do anything. He can defend their best player, shoot the three and for him to take out Leo (Andrade) was huge, and it was great for the whole team,” said Lopes.

Andrade led Bourne with 17 points, but it was the cagy defense of Cote that limited Andrade to only three second-half points and the Wareham swarming full-court press was a key factor down the stretch.

Bourne finished the season with an amazing 23-2 record and earned their first trip to the state finals since 1959.

“They are a lot like us and get out in spurts, but they are tough to catch because they shoot the ball so well, have so many kids that are athletic, and you can’t put the ball on the ground,” said Bourne head coach Scott Ashworth. “I give my guys a lot of credit. To play 25 games and win 23 of them is a pretty good year. This was a lot of fun, and we have some guys back, so you never know. Maybe we’ll take another run at it.”

The Canalmen cut the deficit to seven – 68-61 in the fourth behind the efforts of Mike Dankert who scored 11 of his 15 points coming the fourth quarter alone. But it was not enough as Lopes scored 10 points in the final five minutes of play highlighting his leadership on the court to finish off the back-to-back championship.

“There was nothing easy about this journey. It was extremely hard with the offseason, every practice, taking everyone’s best shot and the expectations of the community through the roof, but they had to stay even-keeled throughout it all,” said Faniel. “When we don’t play our best and we don’t execute – we can be beat. We had a feeling we might see these guys again, but let’s put it this way, I didn’t have to get them up for this one.”