On a day when two top-ranked teams were upset at Cross Insurance Arena, No. 1 seed Scarborough had no such problem in the Class AA South boys’ basketball semifinals.
The Red Storm started fast and finished strong Tuesday night, beating No. 4 Bonny Eagle, 61-35.
“I don’t care what team you’re playing, you have to play your best to win down here, and today we played very, very well,” said Scarborough Coach Phil Conley.
Now Scarborough (17-3) will make the school’s first appearance in a regional final when it faces No. 2 South Portland (15-5) at 8:30 p.m. Friday at the CIA.
“It’s huge for our program,” said senior guard Jaquan Seme. “All the hard work that we’ve put in this season, it feels great to finally be here. Now we’ve got more to do.”
South Portland is the two-time regional champion.
Seme said he and his teammates took a little lesson from watching No. 1 Portland lose to Windham in the Class AA North semifinals earlier Tuesday. Also, the top-ranked South Portland girls were eliminated by Gorham.
Scarborough never let Bonny Eagle (7-13) get close to upset range.
Seme and backcourt mate Morgan Pratt each scored eight points and were solid defenders and distributors, especially to 6-foot-7 junior forward Nick Fiorillo who scored inside, outside and at the free-throw line, finishing with 26 points and eight rebounds.
Reece Lagerquist added 12 points in the paint for Scarborough, which had a significant size and experience advantage.
“In order for our bigs to score inside, our guards have to do their jobs out front, and they did tonight,” Conley said.
It was the first trip to the CIA for any of the Bonny Eagle players, and the inexperience showed during Scarborough’s 16-2 game-opening run.
“We certainly got hit in the mouth from right off and we were reeling from there,” said Bonny Eagle Coach Mike Francoeur. “This is our third year together and this was the first time we had an opportunity to make it to the semifinals, and I think the future is going to bright for us. It’s just tonight, we went up against a pretty darn good Scarborough team.”
Zach Maturo, a quick sophomore guard with an uncanny ability to get off his shot in traffic, finished with 17 points for Bonny Eagle. He made six consecutive shots with a variety of floaters and flicks to keep Bonny Eagle relatively close in the middle quarters.
Connor Sirois added 10 points and William Hendrix had eight. No other Bonny Eagle player scored.
Scarborough opened the fourth quarter with a 19-4 run to put the game out of reach.
Scarborough got to the semifinals last winter in Conley’s first season with the Red Storm. Scarborough started last year 0-10 but is 23-7 since.
“It means a lot to me to get these guys to a regional final,” Conley said. “I know how hard they’ve worked. They bought into my system and put their time in during the summer, and I’m glad for the school and the program.”
Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or:
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