AUGUSTA – Having seen top-seeded Pine Tree Academy twice during the regular season, Gould Academy coach Todd Siekman thought his team might be able to break the Breakers in the Western Class D quarterfinals if it kept pace with their two top scorers, Jerod Verrill and Ben Goodall.
But the postseason is all about role players stepping up and unsung heroes finally getting their due on the Augusta Civic Center floor. Thus, Pine Tree put five players in double figures and pulled away in the second half Monday on its way to a 75-59 victory over No. 9 Gould.
The Huskies (8-8) kept Goodall (21 points, eight rebounds) and Verrill (16 points, seven rebounds) from going off in the first half, but Gatthak Deng (13 points), Cody Lounder and Reath Pan (10 points each) helped the Breakers (17-2) through a slow start.
“Their bench came on really well,” said Siekman. “They had five guys in double figures and I think that really made the difference. The last couple of times we played them, those two guys (Verrill and Goodall) put in 50 and the rest of the team did nothing. We answered them, but it wasn’t enough.”
“Gatthak steps in and helps most of the time when we need it, and his brother, Reath Pan, gives us a lift off the bench, too,” said Ben Goodall, who provided a lift himself by scoring 19 points in the second half.
T.J. Savage poured in a game-high 30 points for the Huskies, while Karl Olson added 18 points and eight rebounds.
Pine Tree will meet No. 4 Hyde in the semifinals on Wednesday.
This is the first time that the Breakers are the top seed in the tournament, a spot usually secured by more heralded programs such as Valley, Hyde and North Yarmouth Academy.
“There’s some pressure, but I like it,” Goodall said.
Gould put the pressure on Pine Tree early, jumping out to a 19-13 lead after one, with Olson and Savage combining for all of the Huskies’ points. Pan got the Breakers in gear in the second quarter, scoring seven points to put them ahead briefly at 27-24, until Savage reclaimed the momentum for Gould by draining a trey at the buzzer to tie the score heading into halftime.
“I think sometimes when you play a team three times, and we did win twice (though) they always give us a good game, you think this is going to be fairly easy, especially if you’re the higher seed,” Breakers coach Wayne Goodall said.”If they had won, it would have been our bad because we didn’t take them seriously, and you’ve got to take them seriously.”
“We felt great going into halftime, but they came out and really hit their shots in the second half,” Siekman said.
Goodall scored seven of his team’s first nine points in the third quarter as the Breakers opened up a 38-32 lead. Deng matched Savage’s buzzer-beater with a clock-killing trey of his own to end the third and put Pine Tree’s lead into double digits at 51-40. It would stay there for most of the fourth quarter.
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