Jared Herrin said he and his Marshwood High boys’ basketball teammates knew they were collectively bigger than second-seeded Gray-New Gloucester in Wednesday’s Class A South semifinal at the Portland Expo.
“Going into the game, we knew we had a size advantage and we just had to exploit it. Get the ball inside. Crash the boards,” Herrin said.
The 6-foot-4 Herrin did his part with 12 rebounds, four blocked shots, eight points and a key inside presence in the No. 3 Hawks’ effective 2-3 zone. Marshwood was able to get out on Gray-New Gloucester’s dangerous 3-point shooters and recover inside, holding the Patriots to 19 second-half points en route to a 54-43 win.
“Their 2-3 extended to our shooters really well, but they also had some openings inside and we just couldn’t finish against their bigs and their length inside,” said Patriots Coach Ryan Deschenes.
The Patriots finished 17-3. They had not played any of the other top four teams in A South – Marshwood, Falmouth and Westbrook.
Marshwood (15-5) advances to the regional final for a second straight season and will face the winner of the No. 1 Falmouth vs. No. 4 Westbrook game. The Hawks went 1-1 against both teams. A year ago, Marshwood lost to Falmouth, 48-32, in the regional final. That was the Hawks’ first time in a regional final since 1997.
“I think last year for us, to say we were just kind of happy to be in the moment to be there, but we had a bad taste in our mouth the way it ended,” said Marshwood Coach Bobby Pratt. “Just how tough Falmouth was last year and they kind of stuck it to us. They just basically asserted their will and left a bad taste in our mouth.”
Marshwood used only six players against Gray-New Gloucester, all seniors.
Cooper Aiguier led the scoring parade with 20 points, including 11 in the second quarter on 4-of-4 shooting – with three 3-pointers – as the Hawks rallied from an early 9-2 deficit to get the game tied, 24-24 at halftime. Herrin and 6-4 Andrew Perry (16 points) were big on the boards. Point guard Jason Singer controlled the tempo.
Marshwood held the Patriots’ leading scorer, Nate Hebert, to six points. Noah Hebert paced the Patriots with 14 points.
In the third quarter, Aiguier spotted up for an open 3-pointer and drilled it for a 40-33 lead.
“Any time Cooper squares up, we like that shot. He’s had an unbelievable season. Really proud of him,” Pratt said. “That was a really great moment in a really important game for us.”
Gray-New Gloucester was able to force Marshwood into some shaky ball-handling in the fourth quarter and had the lead down to 46-41 after a steal and layup by Noah Hebert.
Perry made the knockout basket when he put back an offensive rebound on a missed second free throw by Singer with 1:10 remaining for a 49-41 lead.
“This year, we think we can go all the way,” Herrin said. “We think we have a good team and we’re confident we’re going to play our best game.”
UPDATE: This story was updated at 10:59 a.m. on Feb. 23 with the correct name of Marshwood’s Jared Herrin.
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