Class A North boys’ championship: Oceanside shoots to first title

AUGUSTA — No. 5 Oceanside, the product of a five-year-old merger between Rockland and Georges Valley, won its first regional boys’ basketball title on Friday afternoon, running away from neighboring rival No. 3 Medomak Valley in the second half for a 59-45 victory in the Class A North final.

It was the final installment in a record-shattering barrage of 3-point shots by the Mariners, who sank 10 in the championship game and 29 in the regional tournament. Bangor owned the previous mark of 24, set in 1997.

Senior point guard Keenan Hendricks scored 15 points to lead Oceanside (16-5), which will face the winner of Saturday’s south final between Falmouth and Brunswick in the state showcase at Portland’s Cross Insurance Arena on Saturday, Feb. 27.

The most recent championship for a school in the Mariners’ RSU was the 1992 Class B boys’ Gold Ball.

Oceanside landed the final haymaker of a back-and-forth first half with Cooper Wirkala’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer, good for a 24-20 lead. The Mariners extended that margin in the third period on back-to-back 3-pointers by Sam Atwood and another by Riley Sprague.

Atwood’s bombs capped a 12-0 run and made it 41-28. Medomak closed the gap to eight at quarter’s end.

In the fourth, it was Nate Raye who rained down consecutive treys, vaulting Oceanside to a 50-36 advantage with four minutes to go.

Oceanside held Medomak’s 6-foot-6 junior center, Cam Allaire, to two field goals and eight points. Allaire also was saddled with four fouls for much of the second half.

Raye added 13 points and Nick Mazurek 10 for the Mariners. Eight of Raye’s points came in the fourth quarter, and Mazurek helped slam the door by hitting three from the free-throw line.

Atwood had nine points and Sprague. Oceanside knocked off the No. 1, 3 and 4 seeds, including four-time defending champion Hampden.

Nicholas DePatsy paced the Panthers with 14 points. Kyle Donlin notched nine.

koakes@sunjournal.com

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