The screen was set up to the left, but Jordan Hicks wanted to go right. The game clock was an issue, but not really, because Hicks was in control. He knew where he wanted to go and he knew how much time he had to get there.
So, with the scoreboard’s big digital seconds looming over him, and the Thornton Academy defense reacting to every shoulder shake and stutter step, Hicks, a Scarborough junior forward, made up his mind. He darted right and threw up an off-balance runner.
The shot had no arc on it, but there was never any doubt. The ball sliced through the cylinder with two seconds left, and the Red Storm’s comeback was complete: Scarborough 51, Thornton Academy 49.
“Scarborough has a great coaching staff, a great work ethic, and I’ve seen them play a couple times this year, and they don’t give up,” said Thornton coach Bob Davies. “They’re like us. They’re a good ball club and down the stretch it’s what shots will fall.”
The shots fell for the Trojans in the first half. They built a 12-point lead thanks to the three-point marksmanship of senior Justin Blake (15 points) and junior Mike Burchill (26 points). The pair combined for four three-pointers in the first quarter, as the Trojans went up 17-12.
“They knocked down the shots,” said Scarborough coach Matthew Townsend, whose team improved to 5-6. “I thought my guys did a good job of contesting, but they were seeing a big hole.”
The Trojans’ lead grew steadily at the beginning of the second quarter. Blake hit a leaner to make it 21-14, and senior forward Nick Danton knocked down another three to get the score to 24-15 after Scarborough’s Taylor Sabo hit a free throw.
The Red Storm pulled to within five points again on a free throw by Hicks with 4:20 to go in the quarter. But the basket was followed by a 7-0 Thornton run that culminated with another three pointer, this time by Tyler Kelley.
By the end of the quarter, the TA lead had shrunk to seven points, but the Trojans were shooting well and still in control. That all changed after halftime.
“In the first half they went down. That happens if you’re a good shooting team,” said Davies, whose team fell to 3-7. “You go through streaks, you go through ups and downs. In the second half we missed a couple. We didn’t miss them all, but we missed a couple.”
And the Red Storm got right back into the game. With just two minutes gone in the third quarter, Scarborough had pulled to within a point (33-32). Hicks scored four points and Sabo added a basket as the Trojans began the quarter with three straight misses from beyond the arc.
Midway through the quarter, the Red Storm had its first lead since the game’s opening basket by Hicks.
“We had all the momentum, and we knew coming in that this was going to be a big game,” said Blake, who finished with 15 points, despite having to leave the game once with a bloody lip and again with a rolled ankle. “They were the ninth seed and we were the 10th seed in the Heal points.
“We had a big win over Biddeford, and we knew this was a bigger game than that and we needed to come out with some intensity. But in the second half we just had a couple turnovers and they switched the momentum over to them.”
It looked like the Trojans had gotten the momentum back at the end of the third as they built a five-point lead.
But Scarborough wouldn’t go away. Again, the Red Storm stormed back to take the lead (45-44) on a deep three by Spencer Murray with three minutes to go. Scarborough would eventually build the lead to 49-46, before Burchill hit three free throws to tie it up with 35 seconds to go.
That set up the winning drive by Hicks (17 points).
“I mean, we were discouraged, but we knew we could bounce back against this team,” he said. “We felt it.”
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