WALES — Oak Hill and Wells both entered Wednesday’s Class C South boys basketball preliminary-round matchup looking to end a tournament drought.

The ninth-seeded Warriors succeeded and are heading to the regional quarterfinals for the first time since 2020 after holding off a late rally by the eighth-seeded Raiders, earning a 50-44 victory.

“It feels amazing,” said Wells guard Kevin Bolduc, who finished with 13 points. “I mean, I’ve been here, it’s my senior year, and I’ve never been to the (Portland) Expo or the (Augusta) Civic Center, so it’s just a crazy feeling.”

Wells (10-9) and Oak Hill (9-10) both moved from B South to C South this season as part of the Maine Principals’ Association’s recent reclassification. The Warriors will face top-seeded Spruce Mountain (16-2) at 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Augusta Civic Center.

The Raiders (9-10) were looking to get to the regional quarterfinals for the first time since 2018.

“I told them, I said, that’s really what I wanted,” Oak Hill coach Ben Redstone said. “I wanted them just to have the experience to play underneath the big lights at the Augusta Civic Center and have as much fun playing basketball. Unfortunately, we fell short tonight.”

Already in playoff mode

Wells earned a spot in the preliminary round by winning five of its final six regular-season games. Coach Troy Brown said the Warriors had to survive some tight games during that stretch.

“Yes, it’s been a playoff-type atmosphere for us in the last five,” Brown said. “We lost to Poland, which is the sixth seed in B South. But when we played them, we were up by one at the end of three, and we lost by like 10 or 12.”

The Warriors lost 67-56 to Poland on Jan. 27. On Wednesday, they were up by two points after three quarter, and this time they held on despite Oak Hill’s best efforts.

Wells started the fourth quarter with a 36-34 advantage, then Josiah Leighton, who also finished with 13 points, started a 6-0 run that extended the lead to 42-34.

Oak Hill chipped away at the deficit, sparked by Braden New, who scored eight of his 23 points in the fourth. A Braden Dubec bucket cut the deficit to 46-44 with 25 seconds remaining.

After Wells missed two free throws, the Raiders got the ball, but a traveling call gave it back to the Warriors, who scored four points in the final 21 seconds.

“We’ve had those leads in many games this year, and teams have come back,” Bolduc said. “We got to get a handle on that, but it’s just nice to win one of those close ones.”