By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – Western Class B tournament opponents are running out of time to devise a way to stop Gorham’s Ben Thayer.

For the third time in his varsity career, the 6-foot-4 senior forward will punctuate his season in a regional championship game. Thayer ensured that with 24 points, five assists and four rebounds Wednesday evening, powering No. 2 Gorham past No. 6 Greely, 65-43, in the semifinals at Augusta Civic Center.

Gorham (18-2) goes after its fifth regional title in the last six years at 8:45 p.m. Friday against Falmouth. The Yachtsmen solved the Rams twice this season, most recently Feb. 12 in the final game of the Western Maine Conference campaign.

But the Rams have rolled to two playoff wins by an average of 36 points. Greely (12-8) stayed even for a quarter before Gorham rolled up a 16-7 advantage in the second period and snared a 27-18 halftime lead. Thayer scored 10 in that quarter.

Jeff Manchester added 17 points for Gorham. Josh Tanguay scored all eight of his points in the second half.

Point guard Max Bass hit double-digit assists for the second straight game, dishing out 10.

Jon Alley scored 18 points in his final game for Greely. Sophomore Caleb Jordan added 13 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Alley scored a dozen in the third period to keep Greely within 10, but the Rams opened the final stanza with a 16-2 run on the shoulders of Thayer, Manchester and Matt Trask.

Falmouth 56, Wells 54

All winter, Western Class B coaches said Wells was the team nobody wanted to play. Now the rest of us know why.

Top-seeded Falmouth needed overtime, and two free throws by Jon Forcella with 1.7 seconds remaining in the extra session, to ward off No. 5 Wells, 56-54, in a superb semifinal nightcap.

Falmouth (18-2) trailed by as many as 10 in the first half and was down by five, 52-47, with less than a minute to go in regulation. Troy Frost scored a bucket down low, and nine seconds later, Bryant Barr delivered a traditional three-point play to tie it.

Wells held the ball for the final shot in both regulation and overtime. The Warriors failed to get off an attempt to end the fourth quarter. Tyler Stevens drew a foul with 9.5 seconds left in OT but missed the front end of his one-and-one.

Falmouth called time out with five seconds left. Forcella was fouled as he drove past three Wells defenders and went for a lay-up.

Barr, a 6-foot-4 junior guard, was terrific for Falmouth. He scored 13 of his game-high 28 points in the second quarter, when the Yachtsmen scratched away deficits of 20-10 and 30-22 to grab a 33-32 halftime lead.

The lead changed hands five times in the third quarter. Wells then held Falmouth scoreless for nearly six minutes in the fourth and took a five-point lead on hoops by Brandon Hodson and Ryan Walker and two free throws by Jeff Page.

Jayson Loranger added 12 points for Falmouth. Aaron Bourre topped Wells with 13. Hodsdon and Page added 11.