BOX SCORE

Scarborough 51 Cheverus 42

S- 13 7 17 14- 51
C- 0 12 19 11- 42

S- MacDonald 5-9-20, Harris 3-0-9, Simonton 3-3-9, Deniso 3-2-8, Garriepy 1-3-5

C- Ismail 4-9-18, St. Onge 4-0-8, Manning 3-0-6, Huntington 1-2-5, Nzeyimana 1-1-3, McNabb 1-0-2

3-pointers:
S (4) Harris 3, MacDonald 1
C (2) Huntington, Ismail 1

Turnovers:
S- 21
C- 5

FTs
S: 17-25
C: 12-18

PORTLAND—You can throw the record of the Scarborough boys’ basketball team out the window.

That’s because the Red Storm are dangerous and capable of beating anyone when they’re at their best.

A lesson the host Cheverus Stags learned the hard way Monday evening at Keegan Gymnasium.

Scarborough couldn’t have asked for a better start, pitching a 13-0 shutout in the first quarter, but not surprisingly, the Stags rallied within eight, 20-12, at the half, and sparked by junior Silvano Ismail and sophomore Giovanni St. Onge, within six, 37-31, heading for the fourth period.

There, Cheverus drew within two points on four different occasions, but despite having seniors Reid Deniso and Jack Simonton foul out, the Red Storm refused to buckle, hitting 8-of-10 free throws down the stretch to close out a confidence-inspiring 51-42 victory.

Senior Rowan MacDonald led all scorers with 20 points and Scarborough improved to a misleading 3-13, while dropping the Stags to 7-9 in the process.

“We didn’t have a healthy roster early in the season and we were losing some tough games, but it’s turned around,” MacDonald said. “Anytime we lost, we just went back to practice and worked our tails off and I think that showed tonight.”

Surprise, surprise

Each team has played its share of exciting games this winter.

Cheverus started with a 63-41 loss at Bangor, then defeated visiting Deering (73-72, in overtime) and Westbrook (64-45). After a 44-41 home loss to Portland and a 60-48 setback at Lewiston, the Stags had games versus reigning state champion Edward Little, Hampden Academy, Scarborough, Deering and Portland all postponed due to COVID complications. Cheverus returned to action by winning at Deering (64-55), then lost at Edward Little, 82-41. The Stags won at Portland, 46-42, then fell at Oxford Hills, 64-51. After downing host Windham (63-38) and visiting Hampden Academy (54-47), Cheverus lost at home to Lewiston (59-50) and Oxford Hills (70-52) before getting back in the win column last Wednesday at Hampden Academy, 71-56, but Saturday, the Stags lost at home to Edward Little, 72-60.

Scarborough, which barely played any games in the COVID-shortened winter of 2021, has been competitive much of the way this season, but didn’t have any positive results to show for it until recently. The Red Storm started with a 62-50 loss to visiting Sanford, then fell at Thornton Academy (58-28), at home to Bonny Eagle (46-38) and Gorham (50-42), at Bonny Eagle (40-33), at home to Thornton Academy (55-42), at South Portland (63-42), at Gorham (50-35) and at home to Lewiston (57-38), then lost at home to South Portland (57-24) to fall to 0-10.

Scarborough coach Phil Conley has been through a similar start and helped get his team back on track.

“Nick Discatio, a captain of my first Scarborough team (in 2016-17), sent me a text this year when we were 0-10 and said, ‘Coach, tell the guys to remember what our team did. We were 0-10 and made it to the semis because we stayed together and believed in you,'” Conley said. “I read that to the guys and they’ve responded. They’ve battled all year. They never stopped believing in me or their teammates. We’ve gotten better.”

The Red Storm finally got in the win column at Noble (49-46). After losing at Edward Little (65-39) and Sanford (43-41, in overtime) and at home to Massabesic (65-59), Scarborough beat visiting Noble (64-39) Saturday.

The Red Storm and Stags last met Dec. 10, 2019, a 64-58 Scarborough home victory.

Monday, Scarborough did it again, this time on Cheverus’ home floor.

Simonton opened the game scoring on a putback, then MacDonald found Deniso for a layup and even though 6:52 still remained in the first quarter, Cheverus coach Rich Ashley called timeout.

It didn’t help, as Simonton converted an old-fashioned three-point play (layup, foul and free throw), MacDonald added a floater, MacDonald found Deniso for a layup off an inbounds set and Deniso scored on a putback just before the horn to cap a 13-0 opening stanza.

“We came out really strong and that set the tone for the game,” MacDonald said.

Cheverus finally discovered some offense in the second quarter, but couldn’t put a huge dent in the Red Storm’s lead.

Eleven seconds into the period, Ismail made two free throws to end the 8-minute, 11-second scoring drought.

After Simonton set up Deniso for a layup, St. Onge spun for a layup for the Stags, but sophomore Blake Harris hit a 3 for an 18-4 Scarborough advantage.

Ismail answered with a runner before MacDonald made two foul shots for a 20-6 lead with 5:33 to go in the half.

Then, it was the Red Storm’s turn to go cold, as they didn’t score the rest of the second quarter.

Cheverus didn’t exactly light it up either, but a putback from junior Nick Manning, a 3-pointer from Ismail with 1:07 remaining (the Stags’ first 3 of the game) and a late free throw from Ismail cut the deficit to 20-12.

Cheverus only turned the ball over three times, but simply couldn’t hit a shot.

“We had good looks, but we couldn’t make them,” said Ashley. “We’re a young team and we couldn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”

Offense picked up both ways in the third quarter.

MacDonald opened the second half with two free throws 26 seconds in to snap a 5:59 drought, but Manning countered with a jumper.

Harris drained a 3 from the corner, but St. Onge fed Manning for a layup, then, after a steal, senior Seth Huntington fed freshman Sammy Nzeyimana for a three-point play to make it a six-point contest.

After Deniso kept possession alive at the other end with an offensive rebound, MacDonald drained a clutch 3, then, after a Deniso block, sophomore Liam Garriepy made a layup for a 30-19 advantage.

The Stags kept coming, as freshman Leo McNabb scored on a finger roll and Huntington scored his first points on a 3, but again, Scarborough counter-punched, getting a layup in traffic from MacDonald and a 3 from Harris to make it 35-24.

Cheverus then got the next seven points, as Ismail made two free throws, Ismail put home his own miss while being fouled and added the and-one free throw before Huntington hit two foul shots to cut the deficit to just four.

But the Red Storm got a little momentum back with 10 seconds left, when MacDonald scored on a spinner, and they took a 37-31 lead to the final stanza.

Where Cheverus pushed Scarborough to the brink only to see the Red Storm answer every time.

St. Onge started the fourth period with a putback, then, after a Nzeyimana steal, St. Onge made another layup to make it a two-point game, forcing Conley to call timeout.

The visitors responded, as Simonton made two foul shots, but St. Onge countered by driving with a layup with 6:03 on the clock.

The Stags had multiple chances to tie or go ahead the next couple minutes, but couldn’t score and then, with 3:27 remaining, Simonton put home his own miss for a 41-37 lead.

Ismail answered 11 seconds later with two free throws, but with 3:02 to go, Deniso calmly sank a pair to stretch the lead back to four.

With 2:38 remaining, Ismail drove for a layup, then after three Scarborough misses in close, Ismail had a look to tie it, but he was off-target and Simonton got the rebound.

Deniso then fouled out, on an offensive foul, giving Cheverus another chance, but Ismail’s game-tying bid went in and out and Harris snared the rebound.

With 1:12 left, MacDonald went to the line for a one-and-one and he buried both for a 45-41 advantage.

“Honestly, I don’t really hear the noise,” MacDonald said. “I just imagine I’m in practice in our gym and I just put it up.”

Ismail then drew Simonton’s fifth foul, but he made just the first of two attempts and after missing the second, the Red Storm got the rebound.

With 55 seconds to play, Garriepy sank two more free throws to make it 47-42.

Ismail missed a 3 and Harris got the rebound. Garriepy was then fouled again and hit the first of two shots. He missed the second, but got his own rebound and Scarborough was able to run the clock down to 27 seconds before MacDonald was fouled. He hit one more free throw to make it a three-possession game.

After Ismail missed a 3, MacDonald got the rebound and was fouled with 17 seconds remaining. MacDonald hit both attempts and that iced it as the Red Storm prevailed, 51-42.

“It’s a really good feeling,” said MacDonald. “Cheverus had some good wins this year. We just stayed composed and believed in each other.”

“This is a big win for these kids to beat a good Cheverus team,” Conley said. “We played our best all-around game, offensively and defensively. Cheverus can put the ball on the floor and they have great shooters. I knew they’d make a run at us, but we held our own.”

MacDonald didn’t only have a game-high 20 points, he also had three assists and a couple steals. Harris and Simonton both added nine points and nine rebounds, Deniso had eight points, six rebounds and three assists and Garriepy finished with five points and three boards. Sophomores Brayden Couture (six rebounds) and Nate Glidden and junior Ethan Blanche didn’t score, but gave Scarborough key minutes off the bench and helped it out-rebound Cheverus, 46-24.

“Lots of guys made big plays tonight,” MacDonald said. “People are ready to come into the game in any situation and help the team.”

“We preach rebounding and I think we rebounded the ball extremely well at both ends and we made our foul shots at the end,” Conley said. “We had a lot of injuries early in the season and a lot of kids had to step up and play and I think we’re seeing the benefit of that now. When guys like Nate Glidden, Ethan Blanche and Couture come in the game, I’m confident, because they’ve already played big minutes this year.”

The Red Storm overcame 21 turnovers with 17-of-25 foul shooting.

Cheverus was paced by Ismail, who finished with 18 points. St. Onge added eight points, Manning (four rebounds) had six, Huntington (six rebounds, three steals) five, Nzeyimana three and McNabb two.

The Stags took remarkably good care of the ball, only turning it over five times, and made 12-of-18 free throws, but their shooting percentage from everywhere else was a different story.

“I’m not sure what we shot from the field, but it wasn’t very good,” Ashley said. “All the credit to (Scarborough). They played tough. They played hard. They were hungry and played with much more of a sense of urgency than we did. Couple that with not knocking down shots, you dig a hole and you have to scratch and claw to come back.”

Finishing up

Cheverus (currently ranked seventh in the Class AA North Heal Points standings) closes its season Thursday at home against Windham.

“Now, we go back to the drawing board,” Ashley said. “We have Senior Night Thursday and play Windham and I don’t care what their record is, they’re good and they play tough. They’re big and that’s something we’ve struggled to overcome all year.”

Scarborough (now ranked seventh in Class AA South) goes to Massabesic Tuesday, then wraps up the regular season Thursday at home versus Deering.

“This gives us an enormous amount of confidence,” said MacDonald. “I think we like being the underdog and having a chip on our shoulder. We’ll go in (to the tournament) like we have nothing to lose.”

“We’re playing better basketball at the right time,” Conley said. “We have two games left and I love the way we’re playing heading into the playoffs. I’m proud and happy for these guys.”

Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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