By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – Welcome to the club, Conrad Griffin.

Wiscasset’s senior guard etched his name in high school basketball tournament folklore in permanent marker Thursday night. Griffin scored 16 points in the final 4:17 of regulation and gave No. 2 Wiscasset a piggyback ride past No. 3 Boothbay, 53-51, in a Western Class C semifinal classic at Augusta Civic Center.

Griffin had only one field goal and four personal fouls before weaving one of the greatest comeback stories in tournament history. He hit four 3-pointers to get the Redskins back to respectability, then cashed in his own steal for a transition lay-up to give Wiscasset the lead with 12.8 seconds remaining.

Curtis DeCosta tacked on a free throw after a Joe Gallant steal to ice it.

“I needed to hit some 3s to settle the team down,” Griffin said. “Luckily, the first one went in, and I said, OK, here we go.'”

How unlikely was the rally? Wiscasset faced its largest deficit of the game, 42-25, at the end of the third quarter. Griffin picked up his fourth foul 43 seconds later, and Wiscasset still trailed by 10 after he nailed his first haymaker from the left wing.

Wiscasset started the game 1-for-22 from the field, falling behind 21-5, and was 9-for-40 until the last eight minutes.

All that, and somehow Griffin finished with 25 points and seven steals.

“It was the worst three quarters of basketball I’ve played in my life,” said Griffin. “We knew at that point it was only a prayer. We’re very grateful. There are a bunch of seniors on this team, and they deserve this.”

All seven players who took the floor for Boothbay (14-6) were freshmen and sophomores.

They played with all the poise expected of their perennially powerful program until the waning minutes. Boothbay even did its part at the free-throw line in the fourth, making seven of eight. But the Seahawks couldn’t overcome nine turnovers in the period.

Freshman Kris Noonan bolstered Boothbay with 18 points. Roy Arsenault added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Wiscasset contained Boothbay’s Owen Johnson, who erupted for 33 points in the quarterfinals against Winthrop, to 10.

Hall-Dale 43, Wiscasset 30

You’ll rarely see more thorough defensive domination in a Western Class C girls’ semifinal than No. 2 Hall-Dale exhibited in eliminating No. 3 Wiscasset, 43-30, at Augusta Civic Center.

Wiscasset led 7-4 less than three minutes into the game. Then the Redskins went more than 11 minutes without scoring, saw three starters acquire three fouls and watched Hall-Dale score 17 unanswered points.

It added up to an easy win and a second straight trip to the sectional final for Hall-Dale (18-2). The Bulldogs, who don’t start a single senior, will try to avenge last year’s loss to 10-time defending regional champion Dirigo at 1:05 p.m. Saturday.

Chelsey Dionne led the Bulldogs with 20 points and eight rebounds. Her junior classmate, Caitlyn Laflin, dominated the glass with 17 points and 16 rebounds. She also made three steals.

Hall-Dale already enjoyed a dramatic height advantage with the athletic 6-foot-1 Dionne and 6-0 Laflin in their corner. The disparity grew when Wiscasset’s 5-10 forwards, Amanda Davis and Megan Foye, both picked up their third foul in the first half. Another key player, co-captain Colby Graffam, soon was saddled with her third.

Wiscasset (14-6) went 4-for-25 from the field in the first half and sputtered to 11-for-48 (23 percent) overall in its first-ever Western C semifinal appearance.

Davis led the Redskins with 12 points and six boards.

Only the Bulldogs’ struggles from the foul line (5-for-12) kept the game from getting way out of hand by halftime.

Laflin strung together back-to-back buckets down on the blocks to make it 21-7 midway through the second period. Davis had a three-point play late in the half for Wiscasset, but Dionne and Liz Seigars answered with baskets to make it a 25-12 Bulldogs advantage.

Three straight Laflin hoops late in the third made it 37-20, and the lead grew to 21 points before the Wiscasset reserves whittled it to the baker’s dozen.