PORTLAND — The run is over for the Maranacook boys basketball team in the Class B South playoffs.
A strong start by No. 4 Medomak Valley ultimately led to a 77-49 semifinal win over the No. 9 Black Bears on Tuesday night at the Portland Expo.
Medomak (17-4) will meet Yarmouth in the B South final on Friday at the Cross Insurance Arena. Maranacook, which reached the semifinals with a 38-31 upset over No. 1 Spruce Mountain in the quarterfinal round on Friday, finishes the season at 11-9.
Trevor Brown led the Panthers with 13 points, while Patrick McKenney, Jake Bickmore and Gabe Lash each tallied 10 points. The Black Bears were led by Tyler Hreben with 17 points and Brayden St. Pierre with 10 points.
“I’m really proud of the guys,” Maranacook head coach Travis Magnusson said. “I told them before the game, ‘Whatever happens, you’ve gone farther than anyone thought you would.’ They fought all season. To be in the final four here, being the smallest school in (Class) B is good for us. We obviously didn’t like the result tonight, we’re better than we were tonight. They hit shots early, we didn’t hit shots early. But again, we had a great season, we had a lot of kids improve a lot. I think there’s a lot of memories they’ve created this year that will last.”
“We knew (Maranacook) pretty well, they’re very well coached,” Medomak head coach Nick DePatsy said. “They play hard, they can shoot the ball. Fortunately for us, we defended well in the first half and got some steals and got some run outs. I’m very pleased with how these kids handled themselves. We just have to keep building on it.”
It seemed the Panthers could almost do no wrong in the first half. Medomak jumped out to a quick 22-8 lead in the first quarter, thanks to a 7-0 run and 8-0 run. Bickmore led the charge with seven points in the quarter, but the Panthers got shooting help from everywhere. That included center Jacob Craig, who nailed jumpers from the corner and the top of the key as part of his six points in the period.
“We tend (to start fast) toward the end of the season and into the playoffs, which is good,” DePatsy said. “Sometimes we’re not a good team when we have to play from behind. We got ahead, kept our composure, got into some foul trouble, but we got through it.”
Medomak lengthened the lead in the second quarter, pulling another 8-0 run to take a 37-16 lead into halftime.
Maranacook continued to fight into the second half, pulling off a 9-0 run of its own. But ultimately, Medomak’s lead was too much to overcome.
“That third quarter, we played hard,” Magnusson said. “We died out a little bit at the end of the fourth, but I think they competed for the most part.”
Medomak Valley finished 30 of 51 (58.8 percent) from the field, while Maranacook was 16 of 47 (34 percent).
It was the third time this season the Panthers and Black Bears have met on the hardwood. Maranacook beat Medoamak 62-58 in Readfield on Dec. 29, then lost 76-49 to the Panthers in Waldoboro on Jan. 17.
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