AUGUSTA — Maine high school basketball tournament games are won and lost in the fourth quarter. Never was that more true than in Monday’s Western Class C boys quarterfinal between Dirigo and Old Orchard Beach. The game stayed close for three quarters, but the second-seeded Cougars flexed their muscles in the telltale fourth in downing the No. 7 Seagulls 51-44 at the Augusta Civic Center.

It was the third time in four years that Dirigo knocked OOB out of the playoffs in Augusta, and the latest installment featured a fourth quarter filled with Cougar makes from the free throw line and Seagull misses from the field.

Dirigo made 11 free throws in the final frame, including five from Riley Robinson, to help keep the Seagulls at a safe distance.

“They did very well from the foul line,” said Old Orchard Beach head coach John Regan. “You can’t foul Riley Robinson, because he’s going to put them in.”

On the other end of the court, Old Orchard Beach went 0-fer from the floor until Bryan Roberts drained a 3-pointer with 2:15 left. That ended an eight-minute stretch of misses for the Seagulls.

“We played with them for three periods, and then I think we had a couple of opportunities, a couple good shots that didn’t go down,” said Regan.

Dirigo head coach Travis Magnusson said he wasn’t surprised his team pulled out the victory with a big fourth quarter.

“Our guys gut it out, and that’s what we’ve kind of been doing all year,” said Magnusson. “We go into the fourth quarter, if it’s close, we feel like it’s our game.”

The first half of the game featured momentum swings from both teams. OOB opened the game with an 8-4 lead, only to have the Cougars go on a 5-0 run to end the first quarter with a 9-8 advantage.

The run stretched to 7-0 before the Seagulls scored four straight to take the lead back. Dirigo countered with a 12-3 run paced by Robinson (seven points in the quarter), but OOB ended the first half on a 9-1 run to tie the game at 24-24 heading into the intermission.

“Credit to Old Orchard first, because they played really, really well. Those three guards are really tough,” Magnusson said, alluding to Erik Hogan, Zach Hirst and Evan Christensen. “They’re good with the ball, they can all shoot, they get to the basket. They were a tough matchup for us.”

That trio combined for 32 points, including a team-high 13 from Hogan. But they only made one combined field goal in the second half, when the OOB shooting percentage went down and Dirigo rebounding efficiency went up.

“Those teams (in the Western Maine Conference) are athletic. That was a big focus, that we needed to block out better in that second half. I think we did that,” said Magnusson.

Christensen especially had a tough time after halftime as he didn’t make a shot and scored just three of his 11 points after the break. Regan chalked that up to a bigger focus by the Dirigo defense on his budding sophomore.

Robinson equaled junior classmate Clay Swett in scoring a game-high 14 points. Robinson scored 10 of those from the charity stripe, while Swett made five of his six field goals in the second half.

The Cougars advance to the regional semifinals, where they will face No. 3 Waynflete, another WMC team. Magnusson said he expects a better performance out of his team.

Regan’s team, on the other hand, now heads into the offseason. The Seagulls only graduate three players, but bring back Hogan, Hirst, Christensen and a nucleus of other juniors and sophomores.

The longtime OOB head coach had nothing but good things to say about his young group after the season-ending loss.

“We played hard, we competed. I’m proud of the effort that our guys put out tonight,” said Regan.

— Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.