AUGUSTA — Sixth-seeded Old Orchard Beach knocked No. 3 Boothbay out of the Western Class C boys’ basketball tournament for the second time in three seasons, cruising to a 78-48 win in a quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center Monday afternoon.

The victory sent the Seagulls into a regional semifinal Thursday night against No. 2 Waynflete, a team they’ve lost to twice this season.

“We’re a pretty good team in transition, but we’re a terrible half-court team, and (OOB) made us play half court,” Boothbay Coach I.J. Pinkham said.

“I was looking for answers, but I couldn’t find any.”

OOB Coach John Regan was surprised by his team’s margin of victory.

“Obviously, we have a great deal of respect for Boothbay,” he said. “We figure their kids come in battle-tested all the time, so I anticipated a closer game. You get some big leads sometimes up here, and the kids fed off of that.”

Early on it was a game of runs, but the Seagulls made the most significant one when they outscored the Seahawks 16-1 during the final 4:15 of the first half to open a 37-22 lead.

“We’ve struggled against the zone defense all year, and (OOB) obviously knew that,” Pinkham said. “We don’t get any penetration against the zone.

“We had it tied at 21-21 and then we fell apart. We like to run, and they took it away from us.”

Boothbay’s Anthony DiMauro, a junior guard, led all scorers with 18 points, but he was held to four points in the first half.

“We wanted to limit DiMauro in transition,” Regan said. “When he gets out into the open court and runs, he’s so effective, so we tried to pack in the zone and make them work the ball around.”

During the first half, the Seahawks (14-5) committed 17 turnovers and managed to make only 1 of 8 free throws.

“We lost nine kids off last year’s team when we went to the Western Maine finals,” Pinkham said. “We only had two guys who had ever been here before. I don’t know if that was a factor or not.”

Quincy Grace and Joe Gildard each scored 15 points for the Seagulls (11-7).

Andrew Fleury followed with 14 points and Anthony Langella-Laws added 12 points.

It was the ninth win in the last 10 games for Old Orchard Beach.

“The young kids have matured and have bought into what we’re doing,” Regan said. “They complement the seniors quite nicely. It’s a good mix.”

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