PORTLAND – South Portland finally won the big one that eluded it in the regular season.

The seventh-seeded Red Riots, getting clutch performances from Jack Tolan and Conner MacVane in the fourth quarter, pulled off the tournament upset, beating second-ranked Portland 39-37 in the Western Class A boys’ quarterfinals Saturday night at the Portland Expo.

South Portland (12-8) will play No. 3 Bonny Eagle in a semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Civic Center.

South Portland outscored Portland 23-12 in the second half.

Tolan, a 6-foot-6 center, had three straight baskets at the start of the final quarter to close the Red Riots within two, tie it, then go ahead.

Joe Zukowski scored for Portland, MacVane scored to give the Riots the lead again, and Zukowski tied it one more time.

MacVane then scored with 3:50 left to make it 38-36, giving South Portland the lead for good.

Portland had two shots to tie it and a 3-point attempt to go ahead in the final seconds. None fell.

“We came together in the second half,” said Tanner Hyland of South Portland. “We did a better job boxing out, and Jack and Conner came up big. We lost to them by 25 points last year in this round. This feels awesome. It’s great to be moving on.”

Hyland made a free throw with 31 seconds left to make it a two-point game. He missed the second shot, but the Riots tracked the ball down and called a timeout. With play resumed, the Riots turned it over near midcourt with 24 seconds left.

Peter Donato of Portland missed from the corner with 12 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs got the rebound and passed it out to Zukowski, who shot from 3-point range. He got the ball back for one last attempt to send it into overtime. It missed and the Riots were jubilant and moving on.

“For most of the season, it’s been said that South Portland can’t win the big one,” said Coach Phil Conley. “We proved we could tonight. We had a lot of confidence going into the game because we thought we matched up well with Portland. Jack Tolan had his best game of the season. A couple of his put-backs were huge.”

The Riots lost twice to Portland by four points in the regular season.

“We just didn’t shoot well,” said Portland Coach Joe Russo. “We played good defense. South Portland got into the type of game they could win.”

Jordan Muller led South Portland with 11 points. Tolan. MacVane and Logan Gaddar added eight apiece.

Nick Volger led the Bulldogs with 10 points.

Staff Writer Tom Chard can be contacted at 791-6419 or at:

tchard@pressherald.com

Twitter: TomChardPPH