LOWELL — Thanks to one junior’s hot shooting from downtown and some timely defense down the stretch as a team, Georgetown won its first state title at Tsongas Center on Saturday afternoon.

No. 6 Georgetown got seven triples from junior Irvin Zapata as well as 13 second-half points from junior Brendan Loewen to take down No. 5 Monument Mountain, 61-54, in the Div. 4 boys basketball state final.

“It feels unbelievable,” said Royals coach Josh Keilty about winning the program’s first state title. “This isn’t just a this year thing. This program has been built. … We had some really good teams. Those kids kept the culture involved and the defense. These guys kind of walked right in and that (defensive intensity) was already in place.”

With a 40-26 advantage, Georgetown (19-6) was unable to capitalize as the Monument Mountain (22-3) defense stepped up with a 17-2 run to go up 43-42. Zapata quickly answered with a three-pointer to make it 45-43 as the Royals led 49-47 after three.

In the fourth, the defense stepped up as they allowed 2-of-16 shooting from the field and 1-of-9 from distance to end the contest on a 9-3 run, with Loewen netting eight of the final 10 points for the Royals after leading only 52-51 with 3:09 to go.

“Our defense is our anchor,” Loewen said about the ability for the team to pick it up on that end. “There were parts of the season, where we didn’t have an identity. … We picked up defense. Just everyone being there for each other. Everyone bought in and that’s our defense.”

After Georgetown came out firing early to build a 10-4 advantage, Monument Mountain rallied with a 12-5 run to go up 16-15 on a Finn Wheeler free throw. The teams traded leads down the stretch before senior Manny Brown (18 points) knotted the score 20-20 as the first quarter came to an end.

In the second quarter, the Royals continued their great shooting as they knocked down four more triples, with all four coming from Zapata, with his final one making it 39-26 at the half as Georgetown went 8-of-12 from distance in the first half with Zapata going 6-of-7 from three-point range for 19 points. Zapata finished with a game-high 22 points.

“It’s really been a weapon all year,” Keilty said about the three-point shot. “We like to spread the ball out.”

The defense was no slouch in the second as they allowed 1-of-12 shooting from the field during a 19-6 second quarter run that saw seven turnovers for the Spartans to just two for the Royals.

For the Spartans, Dom Caulutti notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.