Mirror photo by Michael Boytim L.B. Trucking/Lacue’s celebrates with its Division 3 title trophy.

L.B. Trucking/Lacue’s built a nine-point, second-half lead behind solid outside shooting in its Lakemont Park Summer Basketball League Division 3 championship game Wednesday.

That’s when Thompson Machine Company stiffened its defense and held L.B./Lacue’s scoreless for the next four minutes to tie the game and actually take a two-point lead.

But just moments later, Gavin Campbell responded with another 3-pointer for the Patton/Hastings-based squad, and L.B. Trucking/Lacue’s rode the momentum to a 59-53 triumph.

“We live and die by the 3,” L.B/Lacue’s Nick Milanesi said. “We knew we’d have to shoot well, because we played this team a week ago, shot poorly and we lost by double digits.”

Milanesi made three of his team’s 10 treys, a pretty high number for an outside league in which wind often impacts longer shots.

Steve Sharbaugh hit what was likely the biggest 3-pointer of the contest to give his team a three-point lead with two minutes to play.

Blake Over missed an off-balance 3-pointer with 32 seconds left that could have tied the game, and Kevin Lacue made a pair of critical free throws to push the lead to five.

Thompson Machine Company had one more shot to get back into the game after Jake Cherry’s 3-pointer with 25.4 seconds left, but Lacue made one free throw and Bernie Whiteford got an offensive rebound and made another to make it a two-score game.

“Most of the year, we have been in pretty close games,” L.B/Lacue’s Liam Wholaver said. “We started off slow a lot of games, so it was nice to actually have a lead for once. We kept our composure and made free throws down the stretch. Kevin and Nick really kept their cool, and we didn’t get rattled.”

Wholaver, who played basketball for Cal. Pa last season but has since transferred to Slippery Rock, led all scorers with 20 points.

“I have been playing with these guys three or four years, and we could never get past the second round,” Wholaver said. “We finally put everything together, and it’s great. We have always played basketball together, and it’s fun to win this with these guys.”

Over led Thompson Machine Company with 15 points.

“Defense wins games, and we just let up at the end,” Over said. “We stopped getting a hand up on the outside shots. We made a run and got back into it, but then we gave up those outside shots again.”

As much as Wholaver enjoyed Wednesday’s win, he was just happy to even be in a position to play, much less capture a title.

“We’re so lucky to get to play on a nice court like this, and we appreciate (league director) Skip (Dry) for running this whole thing,” Wholaver said. “It was probably a pain in the butt with all the cancellations and everything along with that, but he made it happen. We’re fortunate to have a league where the whole area comes to play basketball.”

L.B. TRUCKING/LACUE’S (59): N. Milanesi 3 2-2 11, M. Milanesi 2 0-0 6, D. Milanesi 0 0-0 0, Sharbaugh 3 0-0 8, B. Whiteford 1 1-2 3, Wholaver 6 6-9 20, Vescovi 0 0-0 0, S. Lacue 1 0-0 2, K. Lacue 1 4-6 6, Campbell 1 0-0 3. Totals — 18 13-19 59.

THOMPSON MACHINE COMPANY (53): Donaldson 1 0-0 3, H. Foor 2 1-5 5, K. Diehl 4 0-0 8, Drenning 0 0-0 0, Cherry 5 0-1 13, Black 4 1-2 9, C. Diehl 0 0-0 0, Brantner 0 0-0 0, Over 6 1-2 15. Totals — 22 3-7 53.

SCORE BY HALVES

L.B. Trucking/Lacue’s 29 30 — 59

Thompson Machine Co. 26 27 — 53

3-point goals: L.B. Trucking/Lacue’s 10 (N. Milanesi 2, M. Milanesi 2, Sharbaugh 2, Wholaver 2, Campbell); Thompson Machine Co. 6 (Cherry 3, Over 2, Donaldson).