AUGUSTA — St. Dominic Academy battled back and even got within striking distance, but Valley clamped down defensively and pulled away to win the Class D South boys basketball final 45-36 on Saturday at Augusta Civic Center.

The top-seeded Cavaliers (17-4) claim their 14th regional title and will meet D North champion Bangor Christian (18-3) in next Saturday’s Class D title game at 1 p.m. at Augusta Civic Center.

The second-seeded Saints (19-2) were playing in the program’s first regional final, and what was likely the best boys basketball season in school history came to a frustrating end.

“We weren’t able to get the ball inside like we wanted, our shots didn’t fall. It was just a tough day for us,” St. Dom’s coach Josh LaPrell said. “But the kids played hard. They played hard all year. They battled, they’ve given us everything they could every single day that they were in the gym, and that’s all I can ask.”

A basket by Campbell Perryman and two free throws by Taylor Varney gave the Saints an early 4-3 lead.

But Harry Louis’ second 3-pointer of the first quarter put Valley up, and Fisher Tewksbury added a trey and later a free throw to make it 10-4 after one quarter.

“I like to set the momentum on that stuff … get that intensity,” Louis said of his early 3-pointers. “Once you have that intensity, it’s kind of like the game’s yours.”

The Saints, meanwhile, went scoreless for the final 5:48 of the first quarter and almost a full minute into the second.

They spent the rest of the game trying to overcome that stretch.

“We couldn’t make any shots, and then we went away from what we wanted to do. We couldn’t play inside and we weren’t getting any transition points, which made it tough,” LaPrell said. “But they took advantage. They hit big shots when the needed to, you know, credit to them for stepping up.”

Valley’s lead reached double digits by the end of the second quarter, and the game went to halftime with the Cavaliers up 21-10.

A strong finish to the third quarter, culminating in a 3-pointer by Kai Taylor with 34 seconds to play, got St. Dom’s within three points, 28-25, heading into the fourth.

“Everything we do runs from defense. That’s just it. We have to make stops,” Valley coach Mike Staples said. “We were getting a little leg weary, we started chasing the ball a little bit and not keeping that middle clogged up, and I told them, ‘We got to keep the middle clogged up, we got to make them keep shooting from outside. We cannot let them get two and three shots on us.’”

The Cavaliers reestablished themselves defensively and held St. Dom’s scoreless for nearly half of the fourth quarter.

Louis and Tewksbury, both sophomores, helped Valley pull away for good.

Louis opened the fourth with a 3-pointer, and Tewksbury added two baskets to push the lead to 35-25.

“They’re tough,” Staples said. “Harry’s ball control, his ability to beat guys off the dribble is tough. Fisher, just, he’s amazing down underneath, I mean, for no bigger than he is. He’s so explosive.”

St. Dom’s made one more charge and got within four points when Isaac Yombe made a 3-pointer with 49 seconds remaining in the game. That was the Saints’ final score and Valley sealed the win with five free throws.

Louis hit four 3-pointers and led all scorers with 19 points. Tewksbury finished with 17, and Ryon West pulled down 12 rebounds.

Yombe was St. Dom’s leading scorer with 11 points off the bench. He also grabbed eight rebounds.

“He’s given us good energy all year, chanting on the bench, or when he gets in, he gives us such good minutes,” LaPrell said. “Plays hard, he’s fast and he makes all those hustle plays that help you turn it on.”

Varney added nine points and Taylor had seven. Johnathan Tangilamesu grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds for the Saints.

The Saints return the majority of this year’s roster next year, so this season might be only the start of a successful run.

“I definitely think there’s an opportunity for us to be back next year,” LaPrell said. “We bring everybody but four guys back and, yeah, I think we just build on this in the summer and remember this feeling and hopefully it’ll help us in the future moving forward.”

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