SOUTH PORTLAND — The South Portland boys’ basketball team finally seems to have it figured out. The Red Riots closed out a key win Tuesday. They hit their foul shots, took care of the basketball and topped Westbrook 40-32 in a preliminary game of the Western Class A tournament.

South Portland will meet Portland in a quarterfinal at 9 p.m. Saturday at the Expo.

The win was a reversal of fortune for the seventh-seeded Riots (11-8), who dropped five of their last six games entering the tournament. And don’t they know it.

“The last two weeks, although we lost, we lost against the top four teams in the league,” South Portland Coach Phil Conley said. “The kids learned what they had to do. I feel like in those games, we learned how to win close games.”

The win over the 10th-seeded Blue Blazes (8-11) was only close because South Portland’s remarkable first-half shooting cooled off dramatically. The Riots hit 4 of 6 3-pointers in the first half to build a 24-17 lead, then hit their first two shots of the third quarter to go up 28-17.

But they hit just one basket the rest of the game.

Westbrook took advantage, scoring baskets on 4 of 5 possessions late in the third quarter and adding a free throw to cut the lead to 28-26 entering the fourth.

South Portland has been in this position before. The Riots led Cheverus late in their game last week before falling short. The game before, they led Portland in the second half and lost.

The difference against Westbrook was the Riots finally made plays late in the game. None was bigger than Jack Tolan’s block on Nguot Ngout. The Riots rushed up the floor and found Tanner Hyland open for a 3-pointer, which he swished to give South Portland a 33-26 lead.

“If you look at a play of the game, that was it,” Conley said.

Still, the Blazes hung around. With South Portland leading 33-28 and 1:23 remaining, Jordan Muller of the Riots stood at the foul line. Conley stood parallel to the line on the sideline, arching his back as the first shot went in. He wanted something to finally go the Riots’ way. The shots both went in.

Through Ngout fouled out with 1:10 left, it was still close. Westbrook trailed 37-32 with 1:02 left after Joe Quinlan hit a layup. Fittingly for a ragged second half, Ben Burkey of South Portland sealed it with an offensive rebound. Calvin Carr missed a free throw but Burkey charged around a Westbrook player to pick up the loose carom and returned it to Logan Gaddar, who was fouled and hit his free throws.

“There were a lot of free throws at the end of the game,” Burkey said. “What had been happening was I’d go in the middle and get blocked out. So I took a chance and went to the outside and I got lucky.”

It might have been luck but it was also hustle. And good foul shooting. The Riots hit 7 of 10 free throws in the final two minutes.

Gaddar hit 5 of 6 in the final two minutes. Luck? Pressure? No. He knew what he was doing.

“I took them like in practice,” Gaddar said. “I practice right in that gym. I shoot right at that rim. I didn’t feel any pressure.”

Now for second-seeded Portland (14-4), which beat South Portland by four points twice in the regular season.