Boys basketball: St. Dom’s comes from behind to defeat Telstar/Gould in D South quarterfinal

AUGUSTA — The Saints survived and advanced, and that’s all that matters in the tournament.

Second-seeded St. Dominic Academy rallied then held off seventh-seeded Telstar/Gould for a 61-54 victory in a Class D South boys basketball quarterfinal Saturday morning at Augusta Civic Center.

“We had to find it in ourselves to play our game,” St. Dom’s Jonathan Tangilamesu said. “We hadn’t been doing that all game, and we get a run and we got to keep it going. That led us to win.”

Campbell Perryman led the Saints (18-1) with 20 points. Kai Taylor finished with 15 and Tangilamesu chipped in with 14.

“It was pretty scary, but I like having a little bit of competition because it showed us the playoffs are a different atmosphere,” Perryman said.

The Saints advance to Wednesday’s regional semifinals, where they will face No. 3 Forest Hills (14-5) at 10 a.m. in Augusta.

Reiley Hedden scored 25 points for the Rebels (6-13) and Filip Nesic had 16.

The Rebels seemed in control early in the fourth after a Hedden trey gave Telstar/Gould a 48-38 lead.

Rebels coach Ryan Kimball said Telstar’s players and coaches knew runs were going to happen.

“(Assistant) coach Michael Pelletier said, ‘Get ready, they will make their run and we better respond,'” Kimball said. “That’s exactly what happened for the first three quarters, and the fourth quarter, they made their run and you saw the result.”

The Rebels’ lead diminished really quickly. Jack Brocke started the Saints’ run with two of his seven points in the stretch. Perryman knocked down two free throws before five straight points by Brocke cut the deficit to 48-47.

“Jack is a great 3-point shooter and I have been talking to him not to settle for that,” LaPrell said. “Look to drive it to the basket, look to cut to the hoop, score in transition. I think he had two or three baskets in a row in the fourth where he just did that.”

Tangilamesu put the Saints in the lead with a rebound putback, but Hedden hit a 3-pointer, giving the Rebels a 51-49 lead.

“I threw the ball and I was hoping it would go through the net,” Tangilamesu said. “I was praying and when it did, I was happy.”

Perryman tied it back up before Hedden had a free throw for a 52-51 lead. Tangilamesu had two straight baskets for a 55-52 lead for the Saints.

“It started on defense,” Perryman said. “We started to get a couple of stops and that transitioned to offense, and we slowed it down.”

After being in foul trouble for most of the game, Taylor Varney hit two free throws. Wyatt Lilly scored for the Rebels and the Saints held a 58-54 lead. The Saints iced the game after that.

“We turned the ball over a few times and they made shots,” Kimball said of the fourth quarter. “They got inside in the paint, where we did a really good job for three quarters of keeping them out of there. They got some offensive rebounds and those really hurt.”

It was the Hedden and Perryman show early in the first quarter. After a Perryman bucket for a 2-0 lead for the Saints, Hedden scored the next five points for the Rebels.

After a Taylor trey tied the game 5-5, Perryman hit a 3-pointer followed by another bucket for a 10-5 lead and Tangilamesu put St. Dom’s up 12-5.

Nesic took over for Telstar by scoring the following six points to get the Rebels within 12-11.

“It was huge to get our confidence going,” Kimball said. “We had a really good week of preparation. We did a really good job of executing the game plan in the first half.”

After another Tangilamesu basket, Nesic tied the game at 14-14 at the end of the first by hitting three free throws.

The teams traded points early in the second quarter. Hedden — who had already scored five in the period — hit back-to-back 3s to extend the Rebels’ lead to 27-18.

St. Dom’s took a timeout and then went on a run. Taylor scored four points, while Perryman and Tangilamesu scored two each to get the Saints within 27-26.

“When he’s strong in the post, you can’t guard him,” LaPrell said of Tangilamesu. “He finally got in a good position and scored easy baskets for us.”

Telstar ended the half on an 8-2 run to take a 35-28 lead into the break.

St. Dom’s scored the first three points of the third quarter before Hedden nailed another 3 to extend the lead to 38-31. Taylor hit a 3 to cut the Saints’ deficit to 38-34.

A Jonathan Marshall 3 started a 7-4 run for the Rebels to end the quarter.

“Coach Kimball did a great job; his boys didn’t miss many 3s,” LaPrell said. “I am curious about what they shot from (the 3-point line). We knew they would, but we didn’t defend it very well and thankfully, in the fourth, when it mattered, we were able to defend it better.”