Ever since its last appearance at Cross Insurance Arena, the York High boys’ basketball team had one thought: Beat Falmouth when it mattered.

With a tremendous second-half effort on both ends of the court, unbeaten York did just that, earning a 52-34 victory in the Class A South championship game Friday night.

York (21-0), the No. 1 seed, avenged playoff losses to third-seeded Falmouth (16-5) the past two seasons.

“We all wanted Falmouth,” said senior Will MacDonald. “Most of us were like, we want Falmouth, we want to play Falmouth. Last year we didn’t get the job done, so this wasn’t just for us, this was for some of those older kids (that) got sent home by Falmouth.”

Brady Cummins led a dominant third quarter with 11 of his game-high 17 points as York used a 19-6 advantage to erase a 22-18 deficit. Cummins, who scored 21 points in the semifinals to dethrone three-time state champion Greely, was named the Jack Coyne Most Outstanding Player of the regional.

“We didn’t have much flow in the first half, so in our locker room we just talked about energy, and that was the main focus in the second half and we were successful,” Cummins said.

Jonathan Donovan scored eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter. He made the winning hoop in closing seconds against Greely.

York outscored Falmouth 34-12 in the second half.

York will face North champion Hampden Academy (20-1) at 3:05 p.m. next Saturday at Cross Insurance Arena. York last won a state title in 1991 in Class B. Its last trip to the championship game was in 1999, also in Class B.

The Wildcats started well, taking a 10-5 lead on an explosive drive down the lane from junior guard Teagan Hynes after 3-pointers from Riley Linn and Cummins.

Falmouth responded with a 9-0 run. Cummins hit a second 3-pointer to halt the streak, but Falmouth led 22-18 at halftime behind 10 points from Nicco Pitre.

Neither team shot particularly well in the first half. Falmouth was 8 of 22, including 3 of 10 on 3-pointers. York cooled considerably after its solid start and finished the half shooting 7 of 23 (3 of 12 on 3s).

That trend continued for Falmouth. Pitre scored only two more points, dogged by Donovan for most of the game, while Hynes was the lead defender on Mr. Maine Basketball semifinalist Michael Simonds, who was held scoreless.

“For most of the year, I’ve kind of been that player that’s played against that offensive player the other team has that we need to stop, and I’ve just kind of gotten used to it,” Hynes said. “Maybe he had an off night. I think I played pretty good defense on him.”

Only two Falmouth players made field goals in the second half as the team shot 4 of 19. Emmett Hamilton made three shots in the third quarter. Backup Will Graiver scored with 2.4 seconds remaining.

MacDonald added 11 points for York, including a 3-pointer after tracking down a long offensive rebound near the end of the third quarter and an inside finish to start the fourth to give York its first double-digit lead at 39-28.

After the game, York kept its celebration muted.

“That’s because we have one final goal and we’re not done yet,” said senior captain Riley Linn.