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PORTLAND — It was a punch to the gut. Make that a roundhouse kick to the solar plexus. With a steel-toed boot.

But the Yarmouth boys basketball team knew how to handle it.

On the verge of completing a stunning comeback victory in regulation, the Clippers shook off a tying 3-pointer at the regulation buzzer to defeat No. 1 seed York in overtime, 77-72, in a Class B South semifinal at the Portland Expo.

“Oh my God, it’s so hard to describe. It’s so awesome,” said sophomore Adam Maxwell, who led the fourth-seeded Clippers (16-4) with 25 points while grabbing seven rebounds. “That’s a huge game to win. That’s a really, really good team we just beat, and it proves how good we are, too.”

Yarmouth, the No. 4 seed, advances to play No. 2 Medomak Valley on Friday night at the Expo.

The Clippers looked dead late in the third quarter. A 20-2 run by York (18-2) to start the second half helped the Wildcats take a 52-36 lead with less than a minute to go.

But Yarmouth kept chipping away, with Owen Oranellas (16 points) scoring nine points in the fourth and Maxwell adding seven, and held the Wildcats without a field goal for more than six minutes. With 0.9 seconds left, the Clippers had a 62-59 lead.

Then York’s Ronin Avery got free on an inbounds play after a timeout. The sophomore settled behind the 3-point line, caught a pass from Cam Swett and swished the shot as the horn sounded and jubilant Wildcats mobbed him behind the arc.

“Devastating. It was devastating,” Oranellas said. “I mean, it was an awesome shot, kudos to him, but that was tough.”

The Clippers had to bounce back quickly. They had no choice.

“We (had) to just rally us together,” Oranellas said. “We have a tight-knit group of guys. We brought each other together.”

It showed. Oranellas started overtime with a quick basket, and Maxwell answered an Avery make with a pair of free throws. Maxwell followed with a lefty finish, and though Reece MacDonald (22 points) had a steal and score for York, Matthew LeBlanc (eight points) hit a pair of free throws and Ian Lawrence, whom teammates credited with steadying the team after the buzzer-beater, converted a fast-break layup for a 72-67 lead with 1:03 to go.

Yarmouth went 9 of 10 from the free-throw line in overtime to close out the win.

“On paper I thought we had all the pieces to make a run like this, but I had real reservations this summer about our compete level and our mental toughness,” Yarmouth coach Connor Hasson said. “All winter they continued to raise the bar on that standard. … Every time our back’s against the wall, they respond.”

Wednesday, the standard was raised again, even when things looked bleak for the Clippers. Did the players feel the game slipping away?

“Yes. To be honest, yes,” said Lawrence, who had 19 points and 14 rebounds. “(But) we saw that score keep ticking closer and closer, and we just kept believing.”

Yarmouth dealt York its only loss in the regular season, rallying from 11 points down after the first quarter to beat the Wildcats in January, 74-71. The Clippers convinced themselves that erasing one double-digit lead meant they could do it again.

“We got some good timeouts, we regrouped, we reset, and we went back to what we do well,” Lawrence said. “That’s what got us there in the end.”

Henry Mirick scored 12 points and Avery finished with 11 for the Wildcats. Callan Forbes had nine points and nine rebounds.