York 50

Gray-New Gloucester 59

A third quarter outburst sealed the deal for the Gray-New Gloucester Patriots against York in a Class B prelim game at home Monday night.

The Patriots, down by three at the half, went on a huge 18-4 run to open the third quarter to pull away from the Wildcats and on to a 59-50 win.

The win sets the No. 8 Patriots up with a date with No. 1 Greely in the Class B quarterfinals at the Portland Expo on Saturday at 4:45 p.m. The Patriots have their work cut out for them if they want to reach the semifinals. In the Patriots’ two meetings with the Rangers this season, Gray-New Gloucester lost 60-27 (at Gray-New Gloucester on Jan. 2) and 61-49 (at Greely on Feb. 3).

On Tuesday night, the Patriots were led to the win by junior forward Taylor Valente, who scored a game-high 26 points, with 18 of those coming in the second half. Valente helped key the big third-quarter rally with senior forward Cody Humphrey (who pitched in with 12 points of his own). The two worked the give-and-go to perfection throughout the quarter, getting inside the York defense for easy layups for Valente.

After being outscored 22-12 in the third quarter, the Wildcats tried to make a comeback, but they were unable to get any closer than six points the rest of the way.

Evan Kenney was the other big scorer for the Patriots, scoring 12. No York player got into double digits in the game.