SCARBOROUGH — When the season began the Biddeford Tigers boys basketball team had one goal: Play its final games of the season at the Portland Expo.

Consider that goal met.

The No. 9 Tigers used a balanced offensive attack Tuesday night and finally beat the No. 8 Scarborough Red Storm 65-59 in a Western Maine Class A preliminary round game.

It marked a major turning point for the Tigers who had lost twice to Scarborough this season. The first time, the Red Storm destroyed the Tigers 52-24 on Dec. 31. Biddeford improved in the second game on Jan. 20 only losing 63-60.

That second loss, however, prompted Tigers coach Mike Fecteau to lament his team’s lack of contributing scorers as leading scorer Bobby Cote netted 30 points with no other Tiger scoring in double digits.

The team heard his concerns Tuesday night. Cote led all scorers once again with 26 points. Nick Leblond, however, made two 3-pointers and scored 14 points, while Cam Nadeau scored eight points hitting two 3s as well.

Felipe Barbosa-Silva only scored six points, but four of those came on driving layups in the game’s final minutes, putting the contest away.

“I’ve got some great kids who wanted to play at the Expo,” Fecteau said. “They played like that tonight.”

Both teams played to a 15-15 tie in the first quarter, but Biddeford took the game over in the second when it finished the first half on an 11-5 run where four different Tigers scored.

The run started when Leblond made two free throws at the 3:04 mark, putting Biddeford up 28-25. Scarborough tied the game 29 seconds later when John Passarelli drained a 3-pointer.

Biddeford scored the next nine points as Matt Cote ”“ Bobby’s brother ”“ hit a jumper for a 30-28 lead, then Leblond nailed a 3 for a 33-28 advantage.

Bobby Cote then made back-to-back baskets, giving the Tigers a 37-28 lead.

“Everyone who played showed up to play tonight,” Bobby Cote said. “That’s what basketball’s all about.”

Scarborough didn’t go away, however. With Fecteau yelling from the sidelines to prevent a Red Storm 3-pointer, the Red Storm’s Kolbey Adams banked one in as the clock expired. That cut Biddeford’s lead to 38-31 at halftime.

“I thought, ”˜Here we go again,’” Fecteau said about the shot. “Nothing was going to come easy. We knew he was a kid who didn’t make a lot of those, and we wanted the ball in his hands. You’ve got to hand it to him, he made the shot.”

Scarborough scored the first seven points of the second half, tying the game at 38-38 on a Dillon Russo putback with 5:14 to play.

Biddeford then took a 48-44 lead after breaking a 40-40 tie when Cam Nadeau nailed his second 3 of the game, which Leblond followed only a minute later with a 3 of his own. Patrick Wilson finished the mini run with a jumper.

Scarborough’s Passarelli tied the game at 48 with 39.9 seconds remaining with a jump shot.

Scarborough took a 50-48 lead in the fourth quarter, but Bobby Cote found a groove scoring Biddeford’s next eight points, giving the Tigers a 56-50 lead that it didn’t relinquish.

“This has been the dream of this team, getting to the Expo,” Bobby Cote said. “Every year, I have watched other teams play there and wished we were on that floor. I thought of that when they took that lead in the fourth quarter.”

With less than three minutes to play, Biddeford ran its passing offense as Fecteau said he told the Tigers not to shoot unless they had a layup.

As the seconds ticked away, Barbosa-Silva slashed to the rim and made an uncontested layup, giving Biddeford a 58-52 lead with 2:47 left to play.

“I saw my man move toward Bobby (Cote),” Barbosa-Silva said. “That created an open lane, and so I made the move.”

The Tigers will play No. 1 Deering in the quarterfinals Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the Expo.

“This league is wide open,” Fecteau said about the Tigers’ chances of knocking off Deering. “It’s really about whoever can put together three games can win this.”

— Contact Al Edwards at 282-1535, Ext. 323.