AUGUSTA — No. 2 Waynflete withstood a furious fourth-quarter rally by No. 7 Wiscasset to pull out a 59-48 win in a Western Class C boys’ basketball quarterfinal Monday afternoon at the Augusta Civic Center.

The Flyers will play Western Maine Conference rival Old Orchard Beach, the No. 6 seed, in a regional semifinal Thursday night.

Waynflete looked as if it already had clinched its 15th win of the season when it carried a 49-33 lead into the fourth quarter, but Wiscasset went on a 15-3 run and closed to within 52-48 when Caleb Bryant made two free throws with 1:11 left.

“There was a moment there when we got a little shaky,” Waynflete Coach Rich Henry said. “The players make it interesting. You can see the ball come to them, and they kind of fumble it. I think it’s the realization they are about to do something special.”

Paul Runjambo closed out the win by scoring two fast-break baskets in the final 51 seconds. A 6-foot-1 junior forward, he was tough for the Wolverines to handle at both ends of the court.

“Paul is an unbelievable athlete. He can play guys shorter than him because he is so quick and he can jump out of the gym, so what we wanted to do was to get him the ball in a situation where he could just spring up, and that’s what he did. Once he gets up into the air, he’s tough to stop.”

Max Belleau led the Flyers (15-4) with 16 points. Serge Nyirikamba scored 13 points and Runjambo added 11.

Jordan Jones made five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points for Wiscasset (10-9). Devon Grover had 13 points and Jason Weatherbie scored 10.

Wiscasset Coach Dana Lawrence wasn’t surprised to see his team rally in the fourth quarter.

“There’s no quit in these guys,” he said. “We’ve had to that many times this year. We’ve put our backs against the wall, and they never quit.”

But the Wolverines had a difficult time working against Waynflete’s 2-3 zone defense.

“We didn’t execute well at first against their zone pressure,” Lawrence said “When we did, we were fine. But it was the same thing that has been hurting us all year long. Inside the paint, we missed 6 footers and layups.”

The Wolverines also found it difficult to cope with Waynflete’s height advantage.

“One of our problems all year long is we don’t match up well with anybody in the league,” Lawrence said.

“We don’t have a true post man.”

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:
pbetit@pressherald.com
Twitter: PaulBetitPPH