PORTLAND — Top-seeded Yarmouth roared out to a 15-2 lead in Thursday night’s Class B South boys’ semifinal against No. 5 Oak Hill and never looked back to secure its second consecutive trip to the regional final with a 79-49 win at Cross Insurance Arena on Thursday.
The Clippers (18-2), who lost to Lake Region in last year’s final, will face No. 3 Wells Saturday for the regional title. The Raiders, making their first regional semifinal appearance since 1993, finish 11-9.
Alek Medenica led Yarmouth with 23 points. Gibson Harnett added 19 points, and Nolan Hagerty filled up the state sheet with nine points, nine assists, seven rebounds, six steals and two blocks.
Marcus Bailey led Oak Hill with 14 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks, while Evan Boston added 10 points.
This one was never in doubt. Yarmouth led 30-7 at the end of one quarter and 44-21 at halftime.
“That’s one of the better first quarters we’ve had this year,” Hagerty said. “Shots were falling. We were playing great defense. We were everywhere with hands up.”
Yarmouth forced 20 first-half turnovers and 31 for the game and converted those into 41 points. The Clippers also had 32 fast break points to Oak Hill’s two and outscored the Raiders in the paint, 50-16.
“The energy was so good. In high school, guys will feed off of that energy,” Yarmouth coach Adam Smith said. “Oak Hill, I think it affected them and it just made us rise in our game a little bit.”
“I think they were a little shell-shocked,” Oak Hill coach Tom Smith said of his team. “Yarmouth’s a very good team. They are very good. Just the size. Medenica is big and he can shoot. The size, we didn’t handle it well. No matter what we tried, they just found ways to break our defense. Turnovers just killed us.”
Hagerty forced many of those turnovers with his quick hands and converted them into layups or easy shots for teammates at the other end.
“Personally, I knew I needed to pass and rebound,” Hagerty said. “Our team can score without me having to score 20 points a game. And we have a bunch of players that can shoot and score.”
After making the tournament the last two years, Oak Hill graduates five seniors, including starters Bailey, Boston and Austin Noble (nine points).
“Last year was a prelim for us. We made it, but they didn’t feel that was the tournament to them,” Smith said. “I told them this year, work hard and we’ll get to the tournament. We came in a fourth seed and they earned it.”
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
