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Class B South quarterfinal: No. 3 York pulls away from Spruce Mountain in fourth quarter

mike whaley
·4 min read
York’s Connor Roberge, center, tries to split the Spruce Mountain defense of Owen Kelvey and Caden Frazier (3) in Friday's Class B South quarterfinal at the Portland Expo. No. 3 York advanced to Tuesday's semifinal round with a 50-37 win. The Wildcats will face No. 2 Lincoln Academy at the Expo.
York’s Connor Roberge, center, tries to split the Spruce Mountain defense of Owen Kelvey and Caden Frazier (3) in Friday's Class B South quarterfinal at the Portland Expo. No. 3 York advanced to Tuesday's semifinal round with a 50-37 win. The Wildcats will face No. 2 Lincoln Academy at the Expo.

PORTLAND, Maine – The York High School boys basketball team had a little bit of everything on display during a 14-0 fourth-quarter run that propelled the Class B South No. 3 seed to the regional semifinals with a 50-37 quarterfinal win over No. 6 Spruce Mountain Friday at the Portland Expo.

There was a Lukas Bouchard dunk that got the surge going. That was followed by Derek Parsons’ lucky 3-pointer from the right wing that pinballed around and rattled in to give the Wildcats the lead for good. Reece MacDonald followed with a nothing-but-net 3 from the corner and then the energetic sophomore collected a charge on Spruce’s Jai Dougher that was his departing fifth foul.

York was on its way.

York’s Reece MacDonald, left, tries to maneuver past Spruce Mountain’s Dylan Jewett on Friday.
York’s Reece MacDonald, left, tries to maneuver past Spruce Mountain’s Dylan Jewett on Friday.

“I just wanted to get going,” said MacDonald, who also assisted on Bouchard’s dunk. “When I hit it, I was really excited. I just wanted to win. … I saw him (Dougher) driving, so I figured the best way to stop him was to put my hands up and take a charge. I managed to do that.”

“(MacDonald has) given us some really good offensive games this year,” York coach Jerry Hill said. “It’s a great luxury when he comes off the bench as a sophomore and gives us that offensive spark. … We practice that (charge) every day. It’s nice when you practice something, and you see it in the game.”

York’s Lukas Bouchard, left, happily acknowledges some fans after his team won its Class B South quarterfinal game over Spruce Mountain on Friday.
York’s Lukas Bouchard, left, happily acknowledges some fans after his team won its Class B South quarterfinal game over Spruce Mountain on Friday.

York will play No. 2 Lincoln Academy (16-3) in a regional semifinal Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Expo. Lincoln advanced with a 70-41 win over No. 10 Lake Region.

The fourth-quarter run helped York (16-3) overcome a sluggish first three quarters in which it could never put much distance between themselves and pesky Spruce Mountain (12-7).

Up one after three quarter (28-27), York found itself behind (30-28) 90 seconds into the fourth quarter on a Dougher driving basket and subsequent free throw.

Then the dam broke.

York’s Ryan Cummins (3) drives to the basket on Spruce Mountain’s Cai Dougher and Jace Bessey on Friday at the Portland Expo.
York’s Ryan Cummins (3) drives to the basket on Spruce Mountain’s Cai Dougher and Jace Bessey on Friday at the Portland Expo.

MacDonald found Bouchard alone on the baseline for a basket to tie the game. Parsons' 3-pointer gave them the lead and MacDonald’s 3 widened the gap to six (36-30). After Dougher’s charge sent him to the bench, the Wildcats ran off six more points to get the lead to 42-30 – two drives by Ryan Cummins and Bouchard’s inside hoop. After scoring 28 points in the game’s first 24 minutes, the Wildcats ran off 14 in a shade under two and a half minutes.

Parsons laughed about his fortunate shot, which bounced high and hit the top of the backboard before coming back down and finally rattling in.

York’s Derek Parsons launches a 3-pointer that gave the Wildcats the lead for good in the fourth quarter as part of a 14-0 surge that led to a 50-37 win over Spruce Mountain in the Class B South quarterfinals Friday at the Portland Expo. There was some luck involved as the shot bounced high off the backboard and bounced around before going in.
York’s Derek Parsons launches a 3-pointer that gave the Wildcats the lead for good in the fourth quarter as part of a 14-0 surge that led to a 50-37 win over Spruce Mountain in the Class B South quarterfinals Friday at the Portland Expo. There was some luck involved as the shot bounced high off the backboard and bounced around before going in.

“I was like ‘alright I missed this one,’” Parsons said to himself as he watched his shot bounce up. “It hit the top of the backboard and went in and I was ‘alright, I’ll take it.’ I feel that once that happened we just kept scoring and it picked up our talking on defense, and it translated on both sides (of the ball).”

York hit 8 of 8 free throws in the final 1:27 to sew up the win; six of those came from senior guard Connor Roberge who led the balanced attack with 12 points, including 9 of 10 from the line. Parsons added 11, while Bouchard and Cummins had 10 apiece. MacDonald chipped in seven. Dougher and Jace Bessey led Spruce with 11 points apiece.

The Wildcats outscored Spruce 22-10 in the final quarter, making 6 of their 10 shots from the floor to go with their perfection at the foul line.

This dunk by York’s Lukas Bouchard (22) started a 14-0 fourth-quarter surge that led to a 50-37 win over Spruce Mountain in the Class B South quarterfinals Friday at the Portland Expo.
This dunk by York’s Lukas Bouchard (22) started a 14-0 fourth-quarter surge that led to a 50-37 win over Spruce Mountain in the Class B South quarterfinals Friday at the Portland Expo.

York led 12-9 after the first quarter and 19-17 at the break as both teams struggled on the offensive end. In the first three quarters the two combined to shoot under 30 percent from the floor – York was 12 of 42 and Spruce was 9 of 33.

Spruce took two leads in the third frame (20-19, 23-21), but the Wildcats responded to lead by one heading into the fourth as Bouchard scored a follow shot to tie the game. Roberge’s only bucket of the night (a three) got it to 26-23. Spruce answered with a 4-2 run in the final 56 seconds to make it a one-point contest.

“We had trouble with their zone,” Hill said. “We missed a lot of shots we normally would make. It took a bit to adjust to (their defense) and get in a rhythm. We finally started making some shots.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Fourth-quarter run sends York boys basketball to regional semifinals