PORTLAND—South Portland’s boys basketball team saw no reason to delay the inevitable Thursday evening at the Cross Insurance Arena and thanks to a dizzying flurry to start the contest, the second-ranked Red Riots made quick work of No. 3 Scarborough in the rivals’ Class AA South semifinal.

After the Red Storm scored the game’s first basket, South Portland erupted for 18 straight points to seize control, a run highlighted by 3-pointers from junior Gabe Jackson and senior Tom Maloji and a putback dunk from junior Darius Johnson.

The Red Riots were firmly in control after one quarter, 24-7, and extended that advantage to 38-19 at the half.

Jackson, who managed just three points in the first half, went off for 11 in the third, as South Portland went up by as many as 27 points before taking a 58-33 lead to the fourth period, where it closed out a most impressive 63-45 victory.

The Red Riots got a game-high 19 points from Jackson, 15 from senior Manny Hidalgo and a double-double from Johnson as they improved to 15-5, ended Scarborough’s season at 9-11 and advanced to the Class AA South Final to battle surprise finalist, fourth-ranked Bonny Eagle (9-11), Saturday at 7:45 p.m., at the Cross Insurance Arena.

“We hoped we’d get off to a good start because those (Scarborough) guys can really shoot it,” said South Portland coach Kevin Millington. “They’re a good team with some really good players. They’re really well-coached. Everything about them scared me, mainly their ability to shoot the 3. We hit some shots early and that helped.”

No doubt

South Portland, which was upset by Thornton Academy in the quarterfinals a year ago, is again a top title contender while Scarborough showed glimpses over the course of the season, but won more than it lost.

The Red Riots started with a hard-fought 67-59 home loss to highly-touted Noble, then dispatched visiting Lewiston (62-46) and host Scarborough (67-49) before falling at Cheverus (66-44). South Portland got back on track with victories at Sanford (63-46), and at home over Bonny Eagle (44-34), then rallied for a win at Deering (69-60) before rolling at home over Scarborough (78-47) and Portland (70-48). After shocking host Windham, which was undefeated at the time, 55-54, the Red Riots edged host Oxford Hills (55-52), then lost at Thornton Academy (38-33). South Portland bounced back by downing visiting Deering (66-60), host Gorham (63-45) and visiting Massabesic, 79-36. After losing at home to Cheverus (54-37), the Red Riots fell at Portland (46-38), then closed with a 74-61 home win over Gorham, giving Millington his 300th career victory.

South Portland beat No. 7 Gorham again in last week’s quarterfinal, 60-42.

As for the Red Storm, they started fast, downing host Bonny Eagle (67-50) and visiting Portland (61-53) before losing at home to South Portland (67-49) and Thornton Academy (66-59, in overtime). After beating visiting Gorham in a regional final rematch (63-57) and visiting Sanford (48-42), Scarborough lost at South Portland (78-47) and Deering (50-49). The Red Storm beat highly touted Falmouth at home (64-49), then lost at Noble (63-46) and at home to Windham (73-70). After beating host Bangor (63-52) and Massabesic (71-39), Scarborough suffered an agonizing 50-46 loss at Gorham, fell at home to Cheverus (59-54) and at Windham (57-45). After beating visiting Edward Little (66-59), the Red Storm closed with a 79-44 loss at Falmouth.

In last week’s quarterfinals, Scarborough rode a big second half to a 68-48 victory over No. 6 Deering.

South Portland handled the Red Storm twice during the regular season, Back on Dec. 13, Hidalgo’s 23 points led the Red Riots to the win. In the rematch, Jan. 2 in South Portland, Hidalgo went off for 31 points.

The Red Riots took of the teams’ three prior playoff meetings, with a 63-37 win in the 2023 semifinals the most recent.

Thursday, South Portland came to the big stage and put on an impressive show.

Especially at the beginning.

Scarborough opened the scoring on a floater from junior Carter Blanche 27 seconds in, but it was all Red Riots from there.

With 6:41 left in the first period, Maloji set up an open Jackson for a 3 and South Portland was in front to stay.

A mere 44 seconds later, Hidalgo found Maloji open and Maloji drained a 3-pointer as well.

Hidalgo then produced three points the old-fashioned way, driving for a layup while being fouled and adding the free throw.

With 4:33 left in the frame, Johnson got an offensive rebound and passed to Maloji for a layup to make it 11-2, forcing Red Storm coach Phil Conley to call timeout.

It didn’t help, as Johnson put on a show, scoring seven points in 59 seconds.

First, Johnson made a layup while being fouled and he added the and-one free throw for the three-point play, then off an inbounds set, Johnson took a pass from Hidalgo and made a layup.

With 2:46 on the clock, Johnson soared and slammed home a missed shot to cap the 18-0 run in style.

“It was amazing to dunk,” Johnson said. “It gave myself energy, the team energy, the fans energy.”

“(Darius) is just a dog,” said Hidalgo.

With 2:01 to go, a 3-ball from junior sharpshooter Adam Fitzgerald snapped Scarborough’s 5 minute, 32 second scoring drought, but Johnson (who had 10 points and six rebounds in the first quarter alone) immediately countered with a 3 of his own.

After Fitzgerald sank two free throws, the Red Riots finished their first quarter of dominance in fitting fashion, as Hidalgo got the ball to senior Carmine Soucy in the corner and Soucy sank a 3 to make the score 24-7 after eight minutes of play.

“(South Portland) shot the ball extremely well,” said Conley. “Credit to them, they made their shots early.”

Hidalgo opened the second quarter by driving for a layup, but Fitzgerald answered with a basket after a nice spin move, junior Will MacDonald banked home a shot with his left hand and with 5:20 left before halftime, a Fitzgerald 3 cut the deficit to 26-14, forcing Millington to call timeout.

Out of the break, the Red Riots immediately responded, as Hidalgo set up Soucy for a 3.

Soucy then hit another 3 before a Hidalgo jumper stretched the lead to 20 points, 34-14.

After Blanche converted a three-point play, Johnson drove for a layup.

In the final minute, Fitzgerald made two free throws, then Hidalgo drove for a layup and South Portland held a 38-19 halftime advantage.

Johnson nearly had a double-double in the first half, producing 12 points and eight rebounds, while Hidalgo had nine points and five assists.

As he did to start the game, Jackson began the second half by draining a 3.

After Jackson made a free throw, Blanche hit a pair for the Red Storm, then Blanche banked home a shot, but Hidalgo scored on a putback and Jackson hit a runner to make it 46-23.

Blanche and Maloji traded free throws, then Hidalgo hit a jumper to push the lead to 25.

After Blanche drove and banked home a shot, Johnson scored on another putback.

The back-and-forth continued, as Blanche sank a 3-pointer at one end, then Jackson did the same at the other.

After Maloji drove for a layup, Hidalgo spun and banked home a shot before two Jackson free throws produced the Red Riots’ biggest lead.

Fitzgerald sank two late free throws for Scarborough, but entering the final stanza, South Portland was comfortably ahead, 58-33.

MacDonald started the final stanza with a jumper, then junior EJ Herrick drained a 3 to make it a 20-point game.

Jackson then banked home a shot before making another 3 for his and his team’s final points of the night.

Fitzgerald answered with a free throw and with reserves seeing time the final few minutes, sophomore Ben Gorham converted a three-point play for the Red Storm, junior Ralph Nganji added a free throw, then two Nganji foul shots brought the curtain down on South Portland’s impressive 63-45 victory.

“Everyone knocked down shots tonight,” said Hidalgo. “We wanted a good start and we had that and the energy continued through the whole game.”

“Our offense was scoring and we held them to minimal 3s and that’s what we needed,” Johnson said. “That’s their main source of offense. Everyone contributed to the win tonight.”

Jackson led all scorers with 19 points. He also grabbed seven rebounds.

“When Gabe goes, we go,” Millington said. “When he scores, we have a much more balanced attack.”

Hidalgo had a quiet 15 points, but he dished out six assists and grabbed five rebounds.

“I really wanted to get my teammates involved and hoped they’d knock down some shots and they did,” Hidalgo said.

“We’re better when we’re balanced and Manny’s a playmaker,” said Millington. “He’ll still get his points, but when he’s a playmaker, we’re really good. When he tries to do too much, it’s tough.”

Johnson was superb with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

“I feel like rebounding is one my main things and I’ll always do that for my team,” said Johnson.

“We thought (Darius) could have an advantage, especially on the offensive glass,” Millington said. “He took advantage of that and made some big plays.”

Soucy added nine points, while Maloji had six.

The Red Riots made nine 3-pointers to the Red Storm’s five, enjoyed a 38-21 advantage on the glass and made 6-of-8 free throws while only turning the ball over 10 times.

South Portland, which was upset on its home floor by Thornton Academy in last year’s tournament, was thrilled to return to the Cross Insurance Arena.

“Last year was disappointing, but it feels great to be back on this court,” Johnson said. “Everyone adapted well to the court. A lot of us hadn’t experienced it before.”

“I never take getting down here for granted and not getting down here last year was very tough,” said Millington.

Match met

Scarborough got 17 points from Fitzpatrick and 15 more from Blanche, the team’s dynamic duo all winter.

MacDonald added four points and Gorham, Herrick and Nganji finished with three apiece.

The Red Storm made 14-of-20 free throws and only gave the ball away seven times, but they were never in the contest after South Portland’s early eruption.

“They were a tough matchup for us all year and this is a league of matchups,” said Conley. “I’m proud of my kids. We lost seven seniors last year, plus Spencer (Booth), our big, who’s 6-11, who transferred, so no one expected us to get this far, but they battled for me all year. To get here is a good thing. We wanted to win.”

Scarborough returns all of its points from Thursday’s games and should be a top contender in Class AA South again next winter.

“Now, we know what we need to work on in the offseason to get ready for next year,” Conley said. “We have almost all of our guys back, so we have to get after it in the offseason. We want to get down here and play on this floor again.”

Surprise foe

South Portland beat visiting Bonny Eagle, 44-34, two days after Christmas.

The Red Riots are just 2-3 against the Scots in the tournament dating to 2007, with a 50-32 win in the 2022 Class AA South semifinals the most recent.

Bonny Eagle knocked off top-ranked Thornton Academy (47-41) in its semifinal Thursday and behind its two behemoths, senior Brody Taylor and junior Max Bouchard, has caught fire at the right time.

South Portland will take the surging Scots very seriously.

“We want to win the whole thing,” said Johnson. “We have to keep having good practices, keep bringing the energy to games and that will get us there.”

“It feels amazing to get back to the regional final,” Hidalgo said.

“They have something nobody else has and it’s hard to defend two 6-foot-10 kids,” Millington added. “We’ll show up Saturday. I know that.”

BOX SCORE

South Portland 63 Scarborough 45

S- 7 12 14 12- 45
SP- 24 14 20 5- 63

S- Fitzgerald 4-6-17, Blanche 5-4-15, MacDonald 2-0-4, Gorham 1-1-3, Herrick 1-0-3, Nganji 0-3-3

SP- Jackson 6-3-19, Hidalgo 7-1-15, Johnson 6-1-14, Soucy 3-0-9, Maloji 2-1-6

3-pointers:
S (5) Fitzgerald 3, Blanche, Herrick
SP (9) Jackson 4, Soucy 3, Johnson, Maloji

Turnovers:
S- 7
SP- 10

Free throws
S: 14-20
SP: 6-8