SOUTH PORTLAND – The Westbrook boys basketball team (8-11) gave South Portland quite a battle on Tuesday night, but the Riots, who have had trouble finishing off opponents all season, came through in the end and pulled out a 40-32 win in front of a wild home crowd.
The loss in the prelim round of the Class A West playoffs ends the 10th-ranked Blazes’ season, No. 7 South Portland (11-8) will now move on to face a familiar rival in No. 2 Portland in a quarterfinal game at the Portland Expo on Feb. 18 at 9 p.m.
Tanner Hyland paced the Riot offense with 12 points, all from beyond the 3-point arc in the contest. Logan Gaddar added 11 points, nine of which came on free throws and Jordan Muller added seven, including two big free throws in the final quarter.
Nguot Nguot led the Blue Blazes with 12 points before fouling out with just over a minute to play. Keenan Lowe had 10 points and Joe Quinlan had four fourth-quarter points as Westbrook tried in vain to come back late in the contest.
Both teams struggled to score in the final eight minutes, with Westbrook hitting just three field goals and South Portland hitting just one 3-pointer, so the game, as playoff games often do, came down to late free throws. South Portland grabbed the advantage there, hitting nine from the line, seven of them coming from Gaddar in a clutch situation, and those points sealed the win for the Red Riots.
Gaddar, who hit five of six from the line in the game’s waning minutes, said he really didn’t feel the pressure with the game on the line. “I took it like a practice,” Gaddar said. “I practice right up in that gym. I shoot on those hoops every day.”
The game was a close one thanks to a furious Westbrook comeback in the third quarter. With 6:40 to go in the third, South Portland had stretched a 24-17 halftime lead to 28-17, and it looked like Westbrook was slowly falling out of contention.
But with just under 5:30 to go, Nguot snuck down the baseline and threw down a dunk to make it 28-19 and then Lowe scored to make it 28-21, and the Blazes had some life. Then, with 2:35 to go, senior Ian King hit a huge jumper to make it 28-23, forcing South Portland to call time out. As the Blazes came off the floor, it was clear that King’s basket had pumped up the team as the bench players charged on the floor to high-five King.
After the timeout, Westbrook continued to cut into the Riot lead, getting another hoop from Nguot to make it 28-25 with 1:13 to go and then a single free throw from David Breunig to cut the lead to 28-26, which is how it remained at the end of the third.
With all the momentum on the Blazes’ side going into the fourth, it would have been easy for South Portland to panic and get out of their game, but they held firm and outlasted Westbrook in the fourth, extending the lead right away and never letting it get closer than five down the stretch.
Riot coach Phil Conley said he felt the adversity his team faced at the end of the season helped as the game got tight. “I think the last two weeks of the season, although we lost tough ballgames against the top four teams in the league, that got us stronger for a game like tonight’s,” Conley said. “The kids learned what they needed to do to take care of the ball and they hit their foul shots at the end.”
Blazes’ coach Mark Karter, though disappointed with the loss, said he couldn’t have asked for anything more from his team. “I thought our kids really fought hard the whole game,” Karter said. “We put ourselves in position to win the game in the fourth quarter, which is really all you can ask for. We had some plays that really could have been made, and we just didn’t make them.”
One of the plays that didn’t go Westbrook’s way came about halfway through the fourth. With the score 30-26, Nguot came in for a layup that would have cut the Riot lead to just two, but South Portland’s Jack Tolan came in and blocked the attempt, setting up a 3 from Hyland (the only field goal of the quarter for the Riots), that pushed the lead to 33-26. “What a great defensive play,” Conley said. “One of the keys of the game is that block right there.”
But even with the seven-point cushion, the game wasn’t won. Westbrook kept pounding back, forcing the Riots to the line and making them earn each and every one of their points down the stretch.
With just over 1:20 to go, Muller went to the line for a one-and-one. As he let the first shot go, Conley was on the sideline using body English in an attempt to help the shot go in. It worked, and Muller hit both shots to turn a five-point Riot lead into a 35-28 advantage. “As a coach, you can’t go out there and shoot for them and you’re pulling for the guys,” said Conley. “And I’m so glad, because this team deserves a win like this because the last couple of weeks, they’ve been on the short end of the stick.”
While South Portland now has to contend with the Bulldogs, the Blazes have to concentrate on getting ready for next season. Westbrook will have some talented players return to the floor next season, including guard Zach Bean, who was limited to a cameo appearance against the Riots due to injury. Karter said that Bean’s absence was a big blow for Westbrook.
“He was really playing well and he was one of the guys who was actually scoring for us,” Karter said. “So, to lose him was a struggle, but I thought our kids played great, and we had a chance to win, but we just couldn’t get over the hump.”
Karter added while ending a season on a loss is an incredibly hard thing, the Blazes need to put it behind them and concentrate on improving for next year. “It’s always tough to lose that game, but you’ve got to move on and keep your head up,” he said.
Nguot Nguot was a big presence in the paint for Westbrook allSend questions/comments to the editors.
