BOX SCORE

Marshwood 46 Greely 34

M- 11 6 15 14- 46
G- 10 10 6 8- 34

M- Reuning 6-4-18, Perry 4-1-10, Wozny 3-0-7, Sullivan 3-0-6, Singer 1-3-5

G- Raftice 5-1-11, St. Hilaire 4-0-9, Coyne 3-0-6, MacArthur 1-3-5, Cloutier 1-0-2, Walker 0-1-1

3-pointers:
M (4) Reuning 2, Perry, Wozny 1
G (1) St. Hilaire 1

Turnovers:
M- 8
G- 7

FTs
M: 8-14
G: 5-8

PORTLAND—Greely’s boys’ basketball team achieved its defensive goal Wednesday evening at the Portland Exposition Building, limiting the damage of the Marshwood Hawks.

But the second-ranked Rangers faltered on offense and as a result, are going home.

Greely was effective at both ends in the first half and erased an 11-10 first quarter deficit to lead, 20-17, at the half.

But the Rangers managed just 14 points the rest of the way and third-seeded Hawks opened the second half on a 10-0 run to seize control.

Marshwood was up, 32-26, heading for the fourth quarter and there, while Greely did get as close as two, the Rangers couldn’t generate enough points to turn it around and the Hawks went on to a 46-34 victory.

Marshwood improved to 14-5, reached the regional final for the first time in 25 years, advanced to meet No. 1 Falmouth (18-2), tentatively scheduled for Friday at 8:45 p.m., at the Cross Insurance Arena with a trip to the state final at stake, and in the process, ended Greely’s season at 12-8.

“It feels great,” said Hawks coach Bobby Pratt. “The kids deserve it.”

“Our goal was to keep them at 45 points for the game and we just about did that, but I can’t remember the last time we only scored 34,” said Rangers coach Travis Seaver.

Going cold

Greely had a roller-coaster ride of a season which featured winning and losing streaks, but the Rangers won their final three games, then dispatched No. 7 Brunswick in the quarterfinals Saturday, 58-41 (see sidebar for links to previous stories).

Marshwood didn’t lose consecutive games all season and also closed on a three-game win streak before sending No. 11 Biddeford packing in the preliminary round, 47-30.

Greely had won four of five prior playoff meetings (see sidebar), with a 63-50 win in the 2016 Class A South quarterfinals the most recent.

Wednesday, the Rangers looked good early, but the Hawks took care of business in the second half.

The first half featured seven lead changes, as neither squad could open up a lead of more than four points.

Hawks senior Chris Reuning opened the scoring with a 3-pointer 27 seconds in.

The Rangers got on the board when senior Max Cloutier drove for a layup. Senior Timmy Walker added a free throw to tie it, but Reuning hit a jumper and senior Aidan Sullivan added a jumper for a 7-3 advantage.

Back came Greely, as junior Seamus Raftice came off the bench and converted an old-fashioned three-point play (layup, foul and free throw) and Raftice took a pass from Cloutier and made a layup to put the Rangers ahead.

The Hawks retook the lead on two Reuning foul shots, but Raftice set up senior Andrew St. Hilaire for a layup before Reuning got a contested shot in the lane to drop with 2 seconds left, giving Marshwood an 11-10 advantage after eight minutes.

The second quarter was much the same, but Greely managed to go on top.

After senior Dee Martin Coyne scored on a putback, Reuning drove for a layup, but with 5:42 left in the half, a St. Hilaire 3-pointer gave the Rangers the lead back. St. Hilaire then set up Raftice for a layup to make it 17-13.

After junior Jason Singer made an elbow jumper for the Hawks, junior Hayden MacArthur made two free throws for Greely and after Reuning scored on another contested shot, MacArthur sank another foul shot to make it 20-17 Rangers at the half.

Reuning led all first half scorers with 13 points, while Raftice paced Greely with seven. The Rangers only committed one turnover in the first two quarters.

Marshwood then roared out of the gate in the second half, as Reuning set up senior Trevor Wozny for a 3, Singer kept possession alive with an offensive rebound and fed Reuning for a 3 and Wozny drove for a layup to make it 25-20 Hawks, forcing Seaver to call timeout.

It didn’t help initially, as Sullivan scored on a leaner, but with 3:21 left in the quarter, a driving layup from St. Hilaire ended the 10-0 run and Greely’s 4 minute, 49 second drought.

Perry countered with a jumper, but Raftice got a floater to rattle in.

After Singer made a foul shot, St. Hilaire banked home a shot from a tough angle, but as time wound down, Sullivan retrieved a blocked shot and put it home for a 32-26 advantage.

When Perry started the fourth quarter with a baseline jumper, it appeared the Hawks were on the brink of pulling away, but the Rangers responded.

First, Coyne took a pass from St. Hilaire and put in a short shot.

Then, St. Hilaire drove again, drew the defense and fed Coyne for a layup.

With 3:42 to go, Raftice spun his way into the lane and finished to cut the deficit to two, forcing Pratt to call timeout.

It worked, as Perry hit a critical 3.

“That was a big shot,” Pratt said. “Good execution by the guys. Anytime Andrew catches the ball with an open look, that’s a good shot by us. That was a great play by him.”

Then, Wozny stole the ball and raced in for a layup to make it 39-32 with 2:51 to play.

After Perry added a free throw, McArthur drove for a layup with 1:12 on the clock to cut the deficit to 40-34, but that proved to be the final basket of Greely’s season.

Six seconds later, Reuning made two free throws.

Perry then broke the Rangers’ press and made a layup with 43.2 seconds left to essentially ice it.

Singer then made two free throws with 19.3 seconds to go and that brought the curtain down on Marshwood’s 46-34 victory.

“Even though we gave up 20 points in the first half, we didn’t think we had played very well defensively,” Pratt said. “We tried to contest everything and if we could do that, we liked what we had. We had a little tweak in the second half to get better matchups and it paid off.”

Reuning led all scorers with 18 points. He also had five rebounds.

“I thought Chris was outstanding the whole game,” Pratt said. “If it wasn’t for him the first half, it would have been really bleak offensively. He started us off with a big 3, then got some tough baskets in the paint. He’s a tough matchup for most teams because he’s kind of our third guy. Our play has changed the past two weeks because he’s dynamic on offense and he does a nice job rebounding as well.”

“(Reuning) was on our scouting report and we knew he could be dangerous,” Seaver said. “We did a good job taking away Perry and Sullivan, but he hurt us.”

Perry added 10 points and five rebounds, Wozny had seven points and a couple steals, Sullivan six points and seven rebounds and Singer five points and a couple assists.

The Hawks out-rebounded the Rangers, 26-24, made half of their field goal attempts (17-of-34), 8-of-14 free throws and only committed eight turnovers.

Marshwood lost twice this year to Falmouth, 64-46 Dec. 17 on the road and 57-49 Jan. 24 at home. Falmouth took the lone prior playoff meeting, a 59-38 victory in the 2020 Class A South quarterfinals.

The Hawks will be the underdog this weekend, but believe that anything’s possible.

“Where we’re at right now, we know any team we play will be good, but the guys will have confidence,” Pratt said. “It’s going to be a tough matchup.”

No tomorrow

Greely was led by Raftice, who had 11 points off the bench. St. Hilaire bowed out with nine points and three assists, Coyne had six points and five rebounds, MacArthur added five points, Cloutier had two and Walker one (to go with seven rebounds).

The Rangers took great care of the ball, only turning it over once in the first half and seven times for the game, and made 5-of-8 free throws, but 14-of-44 shooting from the floor helped doom the cause.

“We got back in it and got some good looks, but we couldn’t score and that was the story all night,” Seaver said. “We missed a ton of layups in the first half.

“It has been an up-and-down season. When we were in the middle of our five-game slide, I didn’t know what to expect. We came back and found our grit. We played really strong at the end of the year. The way we played Saturday against Brunswick was who we are.”

Greely graduates the majority of its minutes and points. MacArthur and Raftice will be the building blocks next year and the Rangers, as always, will have younger players step in and make an impact.

“This is a hard group to say goodbye to because these guys have been around a long time,” Seaver said. “They’re part of our tradition.

“We have some good underclassmen. We have high expectations every single year, so we’ll see.”

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