Matt Langadas didn’t enjoy the view he had for much of the first half. After picking up his third foul before the midway point of the second quarter, he was confined to the bench for much of it as his Lakers struggled to score, falling behind by nine heading into halftime.

The second half was a whole different story for Langadas and the Lake Region High boys basketball team. After being held scoreless in the first half, Langadas scored 13 points in the third quarter as the No. 6 Lakers turned their halftime deficit into a two-point lead heading into the final period. They made 15 free throws (on 27 attempts) in the fourth quarter to lock up the upset over No. 3 Mountain Valley, 61-52, in Saturday’s Western Maine Class B matinee quarterfinal at the Portland Expo. Mountain Valley ended the season at 16-3.

Down by as many as 11 in the third quarter, the Lakers (15-4) closed it with a 14-0 run, capped off by Langadas’ steal and fast-break layup to give Lake Region a 38-36 lead headed into the fourth. Lake Region outscored the Falcons 20-9 in the third. A three-point play by Langadas got the Lakers within five with 1:34 left in the third. His layup on the break tied it with 44 seconds to go.

“Matt Langadas really took the team on his shoulders and we got some good points in transition,” said Lake Region guard Phil Leighton, who had a team-high 17 points, eight coming in the fourth.

“He was, I think, the difference,” said Lakers coach Mike Francoeur of Langadas. “He got to the rim, got us to the foul line, ran in transition.”

Zach Tomkinson scored off a pass from Langadas to start the fourth quarter, when Lake Region never trailed. Tomkinson scored 15 points, 12 coming in the second half.

The Lakers were a little tight to start, Langadas said, but got into the flow after halftime. The team was knocked out in the quarterfinals a year ago, lost in the prelims the year before that, and didn’t make the postseason when the current seniors were freshmen. So winning at the Expo is a new experience for Lake Region.

“Our first two shots, I think we airballed them,” Langadas said. “We were all nervous. We were excited, but we were nervous and you could tell in the first half. Then in the second half, once we went on that little run and started getting easy baskets, we got the crowd into it.”

Both teams brought a large contingent to the Expo. The Lakers didn’t make it easy on their fans late, missing 12 foul shots in the fourth quarter. But they kept a hand up on the Mountain Valley shooters and did a good job of rebounding against the physical Falcons, who made up what little they sacrificed in height with an advantage in width.

Mountain Valley’s Travis Ruff – like several of the Falcons’ starters, a standout on the Class B championship football team the past fall – made a 3-pointer to get Mountain Valley within three at 52-49 with 2:30 to go in the game. But Leighton answered with a jumper and the Falcons got no closer.

“In the second half, we made some shots that we might have missed early,” Francoeur said. “In the first half, we were hoping to make plays. In the second half, we made plays.”

The Lakers scored their final seven points from the line to wrap up the win.

Both teams struggled from the field early, as Lake Region took a 9-6 lead after the first quarter. But Mountain Valley sophomore Cam Kaubris (the Falcons’ signal-caller in the fall) exploited the Lake Region zone in the second quarter, burying three 3s and scoring 15 of his game-high 20 points. Ruff added the other six as the Falcons outscored the Lakers 21-9 in the period to lead 27-18 at halftime.

Mountain Valley and Lake Region did not meet during the regular season. Francoeur, who had the chance to scout the Falcons’ a couple times on Lake Region’s off nights, said Mountain Valley plays a different brand of basketball than any of the teams in the Lakers’ Western Maine Conference.

“Not playing them during the regular season doesn’t give you a feeling of exactly how physical Mountain Valley is,” Francoeur said. “They are some strong boys. They basically manhandled us early.”

“Their point guard, Ruff, really gave us a matchup problem because he was deceptively quick and was allowed to get by,” Francoeur added. “I didn’t think, from watching them play, that he was going to be able to beat us with dribble penetration, but he certainly in the first half did whatever he wanted. Then their quarterback there, the Kaubris kid, made some nice shots.”

Lake Region found success playing man-to-man defense late in the first half and stuck with it for most of the second half. Kaubris was held scoreless in the third quarter and Ruff managed only three points.

The Lakers advanced to face No. 2 Falmouth in Thursday’s semifinal at the Cumberland County Civic Center (a game played after Lake Region Weekly’s deadline). Falmouth (16-3) had no trouble with No. 7 Lincoln Academy in the quarterfinals, winning 68-42.

Lake Region and Falmouth split their two games during the regular season. The Lakers won 60-51 at Falmouth in January. The Yachtsmen won 55-49 in Naples in the finale.