AUGUSTA — Dan Dickinson, one of the smallest players on the court, took over the game in the fourth quarter Thursday night to lead second-seeded Boothbay Region to a 57-47 victory against third-ranked Old Orchard Beach in a Western Class C boys’ basketball semifinal at the Augusta Civic Center.

Dickinson, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, scored 10 of his 22 points in the final quarter to lead the Seahawks (17-3) into Saturday night’s final against top-seeded Dirigo (18-2).

“He may be the smallest guy out there but he’s got the biggest heart,” Boothbay Coach I.J. Pinkham said. “He just keeps going and going and going. He’s been doing that for us all year. He really is a nightmare for whoever he’s guarding because they’ve really got to protect the ball. He does such a good job.”

In a span of less than a minute, Dickinson sank his third 3-pointer, then stole the ball and scored to set up a three-point play. That ignited a 15-2 run, propelling Boothbay into a 52-41 lead with 1:47 left.

“The kid doesn’t seem to stop at all,” Old Orchard Coach John Regan said. “He’s so quick. He only needs a little opening to get his shot off.”

“I never get tired, pretty much,” Dickinson said. “Coach told me they were getting tired so I pressured them a lot. I just tried to get steals and run them out of the gym.”

The score was tied or the lead changed hands 13 times before the Seahawks took control with their fourth-quarter run.

“I was happy with where we were at halftime,” Regan said. “I was happy at the end of three (quarters). But they got that one burst in the fourth quarter, and they went and put it away.”

Boothbay clung to a 24-22 halftime lead.

Old Orchard (14-5) ran off 10 points late in the first quarter, but Jake Simmons hit a late 3-pointer to make it 10-10.

Boothbay opened a 22-16 lead less than five minutes into the second quarter, but Rajheem Lang pulled the Seagulls within two points when he hit a turn-around jumper from the lane with less than a minute left.

Nate Dow scored 15 points and Lang added 13 for the Seagulls, who led 36-35 after three quarters. Simmons scored 10 points for Boothbay.

“I really didn’t think we would rebound as well as we did against them, but right from the opening gun we seemed to be in there battling and getting our share,” said Pinkham. “We did a pretty good job of boxing out.”

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com