York boys basketball team sees season end in Class B South quarterfinals

PORTLAND, Maine – Quietly was not how the York High School boys basketball team went down Friday night. More like in a blaze of 3-pointers.

The No. 5 Wildcats overcame a 10-point deficit in the final two minutes to cut the lead to two before No. 4 Medomak Valley buried its final eight foul shots to advance in the Class B South quarterfinals at the Portland Expo, 66-61.

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York (10-9) drained all four of its 3-pointers in the last 1:44 as it rallied from a 56-46 deficit to close to within two (58-56) with 1:02 to go, but could get no closer.

Junior Derek Parsons led the Wildcats with 15 points, while classmate Connor Roberge added 13 and sophomore Lukas Bouchard had 10. Senior Kevin Sincyr scored a game-high 20 to lead Medomak, while sophomore Gabe Lash added 16 – all in the second half.

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Medomak (14-5) advances to the regional semis on Tuesday at the Expo vs. the No. 1 Oceanside, who survived No. Cape Elizabeth in the late game, 54-51.

York heads up in wild finish

Medomak looked like it might be salting the game away when Lash buried two free throws with 2:12 to play to make it a 10-point game (56-46).

Parsons hit one free throw, but then the Panthers, in the double bonus, missed four straight, and Jake Fogg and Parsons hit back-to-back treys to slice the margin to 56-53 with 1:29 to go.

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Lash, who sank 10 of 11 free throws, drained two to get the lead to five, but Parsons nailed another long 3, this one from the right corner, and suddenly the lead was two, 58-56, with 1:02 left.

“We needed a stop,” Fogg said. “Then get the ball and try to tie it or take the lead.”

York almost got that stop. Medomak missed a shot, but the Panthers’ Blake Morrison grabbed the rebound and converted the putback with 52 ticks on the clock to get the lead to four, 60-56, and making it a two-possession game.

Fogg’s 3 was off for York, and Medomak was perfect from the line from there – four by Lash sandwiched around two from Morrison. The Panthers, after missing four straight, drained their final eight. They hit 20 of 33 for the game. York was 21 of 29.

Roberge laid in a deuce and hit a three in the last 35 seconds, but the Panthers answered with foul shots.

“Inconsistent shooting has been our crutch all season,” said York coach Jerry Hill, referring to his team’s inability to heat up until late in the final quarter. “Obviously the games we shoot well, we play well and win. Some of the guys who are more consistent 3-point scorers for us, later in the game they started hitting some shots. That got us back in the game.”

Medomak outscored York, 25-23, in the crazy fourth. York scored 15 of those points in the final 2:02.

“Credit to our guys, they never let up,” Hill said. “They had a 10-point lead with two minutes to go and we cut it down to one possession, which was awesome.”

Not so awesome for Medomak coach Nick DePatsy.

“They shoot the 3-ball really well,” DePatsy said. “They shoot free throws really well. At the end there, they started knocking down those long bombs, we got a little nervous. We kept our composure. We hit some free throws for ourselves.”

Wildcats build seven-point lead in third

Up one at the half, 26-25, York went on a 10-4 run to start the third quarter to go up, 36-29. Ty Regis scored four of the points, two on a feed from Fogg (eight points) and two more on foul shots. Parsons hit a 10-footer, Fogg had a steal and hoop and Haydn Forbes (seven points) drove for a bucket.

However, they could not sustain the momentum.

Panthers surge to end third

Medomak put some pressure on York at that point and it met with some success. They finished the quarter on a 12-2 run, sparked by seven straight points from Sincyr and Vishal Mellor’s 3-point play at the six-second mark that put them up, 41-38, with a quarter to play.

“They started to press and we got a little crazy, turning it over a couple of times,” Fogg said.

That play hurt because coach Hill had wanted his team to hold for the last shot. But they took a shot with 12 seconds to go that missed. Medomak got the rebound to set up Mellor’s big play.

“That put them in a good position, and they were getting the ball to start the fourth quarter,” Hill said. “That put us in a tough spot. Again, decision-making. We could have been a little smarter.”

York unwinds after slow start

The Wildcats fell behind 7-2 in the first three minutes of the game, but ended the quarter on an 11-2 spurt to lead 13-9. Bouchard was the big early gun, scoring his team’s first eight points. A foul shot, Roberge’s feed to Regis and Reece MacDonald’s corner jumper got the lead to four after 8 minutes.

Roberge’s hoop in the lane made it 26-21 with 1:04 to play in the first half, but Medomak’s Mellor (nine points off the bench) scored the final four points of the quarter on a pair of foul shots and a layup with four seconds to go to cut York’s lead at the break to one, 26-25.

Medomak wins despite foul trouble

The Panthers’ leading scorer, junior Kory Donlin, battled foul trouble all night, finally fouling out with 4:40 to play with just seven points.

“When he doesn’t play well, we usually lose,” DePatsy said. “It was kind of a good feeling that other kids had to step up, and they did.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York boys basketball loses to Medomak Valley in regional quarterfinals