AUGUSTA — Oxford Hills took six shots from the floor in the second quarter of Tuesday night’s Class AA North semifinal and hit none of them.
If not for Colton Carson’s baseball pass hitting the center-court overhang in the final seconds of the period, the Vikings wouldn’t have disturbed the scoreboard at all in the quarter.
As if being shut out for the entire quarter was not enough, Portland’s Terion Moss subsequently drilled a 25-footer at the halftime buzzer to put the top-seeded Bulldogs up 22-6. And coming back on the defending state champions is a nearly impossible task.
Moss finished with 14 points to lead the top-seeded Bulldogs to a 56-36 win over No. 5 Oxford Hills at Augusta Civic Center.
Portland (17-2) will be playing for its fourth consecutive regional title when it faces No. 2 Edward Little at 8:45 p.m. Friday.
No. 5 Oxford Hills ends its season at 13-7.
“That’s the worst basketball quarter that I’ve ever coached in 35 years,” Oxford Hills coach Scott Graffam said. “I don’t think we’ve ever been shut out in a quarter. But the kids played hard. They didn’t give up. They came out in the second half and got after it a little bit.”
Oxford Hills hoped to slow down the game’s tempo in the first half by holding and dribbling the ball on the perimeter for a few seconds. But once the Vikings attacked, Portland usually had at least one hand in the shooter’s face.
Even though the Vikings were only slightly more prolific in the first quarter, they were happy to keep Moss, a lightning-quick junior point guard, from jump-starting Portland’s offense.
“We tried to hold the ball a little bit and limit their possessions in the first quarter,” Graffam said. “We were OK. It was 10-6 and we had the ball, should have had the last shot of the quarter and didn’t hit it and we’re down 12-6.”
Back-to-back putbacks by Emmanuel Yugu and Clay Hardy-Lindsay put the Bulldogs’ lead into double digits early in the second period.
At the other end, the Vikings found it very difficult to get open looks.
“We started going behind their screens,” Portland coach Joseph Russo said. “They did a lot of screens, a lot of picks, so we started going behind and beating them to a spot because they love to penetrate and kick it out to a shooter. That seemed to keep their shots down.”
Carson ended the Vikings’ drought with a putback 10 seconds into the second half. Atreyu Keniston followed with a hoop to pull them within 12, but they couldn’t get within single digits. Despite making half of their shots in the third quarter (6-for-12), they trailed 38-21 heading to the fourth.
“Portland’s a good team,” Graffam said. “They do everything well. They have all of the pieces … They defend like crazy because they’re so quick and strong.”
“You can’t really put a lot of pressure on (Moss). I was proud that we were actually able to get a little pressure on him and get some other guys to shoot the ball,” Graffam said. “But it was too little, too late.”
A pair of 3-pointers by Cole Verrier (11 points) and a putback by Keniston got the Vikings to within 40-29 with 5:28 to go. But a baseline drive by Yugu and a reverse layup by Griffin Foley quickly put them back at a safer distance.
Oxford Hills will lose five seniors to graduation, but just one starter, Verrier.
“I’m proud of this group. They lost the best player in the state last year (Andrew Fleming), came back and made the semifinals again,” Graffam said.
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