OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The No. 7 Old Orchard Beach boys basketball team jumped out to a 16-point lead after the first half and never looked back as the Seagulls rolled to a 50-29 win over the No. 10 Madison during Thursday night’s Class C South prelim.
Ryan Crockett put on a show for OOB as he scored 11 points in the second quarter and 20 overall, including 11 out of 12 free throws, to secure the victory for the Seagulls.
Crockett was thrilled to pick up the win.
“I was a little bit nervous going in, but we ended up winning by a good amount. I was a little surprised, but we got the job done,” said Crockett.
The Seagulls and the Bulldogs would battle during the first quarter for a lead until Crockett sank four free throws to give OOB an 8-5 advantage going into the second.
“We hadn’t had a single returning starter from last year. The kids might have gotten two or three minutes in the playoff game last year so it was the first time for a playoff game and I knew they might be a little bit nervous but I thought they responded really well,” said OOB head coach Matt Regan.
OOB dominated the second quarter, outscoring Madison 18-5 thanks to a combined 15 points from Crockett and Zac LaPlante to claim a 26-10 lead.
In the third quarter, the Bulldogs would only make two points, while the Seagulls would net six and produce a 32-12 lead.
“The kids played great defensively, got it going for us. David Anderson played great at the top of the key. Defensively we held them to 12 points through three quarters. I think our defense led to offense for us which was great,” said Regan.
The Seagulls would outscore the Bulldogs by one point, 18-17, in the fourth to create the final 50-29 score.
“We knew coming in that they were pretty physical. We were going to have to try and find ways to score with our defense which I thought the kids did with the 1-3-1. It was really an all-around effort,” said Regan.
LaPlante finished with 10, while Anderson added seven for OOB.
Thomas Dean led Maddison with 10 points.
OOB will travel to Augusta on Monday to face Waynflete in the C South quarterfinals.
“Coming into the season, our goal was to get to Augusta. I think the kids are happy about getting there and now we’ll prepare to see what we can do up there,” said Regan.
Crockett believes if the Seagguls show the effort they did tonight, they will make it to the next round of playoffs.
“We play a pretty tough team. Waynflete’s good. We have to do what we did tonight, which was hustle 100 percent and leave it all on the floor and we can’t do anything wrong,” said Crockett.
— Sports Writer Sienna Barstow can be reached at sbarstow@journaltribune.com or at 780-9018. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.