Once the Bulldogs got into the flow of the game, they loosened up and looked the part of a program that has won back-to-back regional titles.

Griffin Foley, a sophomore who sat out two days of practice after spraining his ankle against Bonny Eagle, scored 14 of his team-high 19 points off the bench in the second quarter. It propelled Portland to a lead that steadily grew in a 74-57 victory over Oxford Hills.

“The ankle was why he didn’t start,” Portland coach Joe Russo said. “He’s known as a shooter, and maybe two days of rest was good.”

Bulldogs’ junior center Charlie Lyall also played limited minutes with a sore ankle, but with four players in double figures there were reinforcements aplenty in the battle of Class AA unbeatens.

Amir Moss scored nine of his 18 points in the fourth quarter for Portland (3-0) after Oxford Hills (2-1) cut a 17-point deficit to eight.  Terion Moss added 12. Joe Esposito chipped in 11.

It was the first-ever regular season meeting between the teams, thanks to reclassification and a fistful of enticing crossover contests this winter. The Vikings won the only previous clash, 58-56, in a 1994 Class A preliminary game.

“We’ve made between 8 and 12 3s in all our other games this year. We didn’t do that against them,” Oxford Hills coach Scott Graffam said. “These weren’t any different shots, but the crowd’s different, the team you’re playing is different. Our goal is to be as good as they are at the end of the season.”

Portland held Oxford Hills star Andrew Fleming to only two field goals in the second half.

The 6-foot-6 senior finished with 24 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots. He went 9-for-15 from the free-throw line.

“We just wanted to make sure that we could shut down Fleming as much as possible,” Foley said. “We wanted to play a little help defense, but not so much help that everybody else could get their shots up, because they all shoot pretty well.”

Chris St. Pierre added 10 points for Oxford Hills, including two of the Vikings’ five 3-pointers. Cole Verrier and Jake Beauchesne each chalked up eight.

After Oxford Hills capped the opening quarter with an 11-0 run to grab an 18-10 lead, the Vikings shot 7-for-29 in the second and third periods while the Bulldogs’ running game kicked into overdrive.

Foley had seven of the Bulldogs’ nine consecutive points to christen the second period and reclaim the lead, including two fast break buckets and the first of his three 3-pointers.

“The atmosphere, it’s overwhelming, but when I made the first one I felt good, and it felt good every other shot I took,” Foley said.

Oxford Hills roared back to snag a 24-19 edge on Verrier’s 3-pointer with 4:28 to go. The Vikings endured a four-minute freeze until their next field goal, and the trio of Foley, Amir Moss and freshman Trey Bellew did all the damage in Portland’s subsequent surge to a 34-27 halftime cushion.

Portland pulled ahead 49-32 with an 11-point binge in the third, coinciding with Fleming’s brief absence after a technical foul.

“We looked at the schedule and figured that they’re a very, very good team. They have all the ingredients of a good team. People in Oxford Hills love their basketball, so it was a great atmosphere. We knew it was going to be a challenge,” Russo said. “We’re also not a bad team. We play pretty good defense, and we have some quickness, and that’s what we wanted to use.”

Fleming returned to spark a 12-2 push for the Vikings. He drained a 3-pointer before finding St. Pierre for another, then located Beauchesne on a backdoor cut.

It was 52-44 at quarter’s end, and the margin remained in single digits until Foley buried another trey with 6:28 to go.

The Moss brothers put it away with an impressive array of spinning drives to the hoop out of Portland’s fullcourt and halfcourt sets.

“You can’t make any mistakes. That’s the issue,” Graffam said. “If you miss a checkout, thye’re going to get it and lay it in or tip it in. If you hesitate for a second trying to guard the guy that got the rebound, they run it down the court and score because (our guy) is trying to defend the ball 84 feet away. You’ve got to sprint back.”

The Bulldogs shot 10-for-15 from the field in the second quarter after a 4-for-18 start.

“These varsity kids were on the bus since 2 o’clock. I made them go for walks during the freshman and JV games,” Russo said. “I was happy with how we played as a team and how the bench players were contributing.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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