Mountain Valley’s Jacob Blanchard pushes past Cape Elizabeth’s David Hare during Saturday’s 2018 Maine State basketball tournament at the Portland Expo. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
PORTLAND — The exclamation point, if not the turning point, for No. 2 Cape Elizabeth in Saturday’s Class B South boys’ basketball quarterfinal against No. 7 Mountain Valley required two saves.
First came Matt Conley’s hustling save of the basketball just before it bounced out of bounds by the Capers’ bench. Conley might have bounced off a railing or worse if not for the second save by Capers coach Jim Ray.
Conley’s save was more pertinent to Cape Elizabeth dominating the second half to pull away from Mountain Valley, 47-31, at the Portland Expo.
Senior guard Finn Bowe scored 13 of his game-high 16 points in the second half to lead the Capers (12-7) with 16 points.
“You can’t look past anyone,” Bowe said. “I was nervous coming into this game today, just because one more loss and you’re done, your whole high school career is done, so we weren’t looking past them at all. Every game is tough.”
Three of Bowe’s points were directly the result of Conley’s save, as he knocked down a 3-pointer in front of Capers’ bench to cap a 13-3 run that gave the Capers a 33-23 lead midway through the third quarter.
“He just about killed me,” Ray said of Conley. “I don’t know (if my save) was that good. But that’s a great save, and to get a 3 off of it. … We talked to the kids about how you need to understand … that one possession, that one lapse, in a one-possession game can hurt you. Matt Conley making that play, that one possession, made three points difference.”
“Matt Conley off the bench had a lot of great hustle plays and played great defense,” Bowe said.
Andrew Hartel added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Capers.
Keegan Davis led the Falcons (11-8) with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Will Bean added six points.
Cape Elizabeth will face No. 3 Yarmouth in the semifinals at 6 p.m. next Thursday at the Cross Insurance Arena.
Mountain Valley missed its first eight shots of the third quarter and couldn’t capitalize when the 6-foot-9 Hartel went to the bench with his third foul three minutes into the second half.
Davis interrupted the drought with a baseline drive with 2:57 to go in the third to cut the deficit to 34-25, but that was the Falcons’ only field goal in the quarter. They shot 1-for-11 in the third, and free throws by Bowe and David Hare put the Capers up, 37-25, heading into the fourth.
Mountain Valley, which scored only 11 points in the second half, never got closer than 10 points after that.
“Sometimes it comes down to not playing well for four or five possessions in a row,” Mountain Valley coach Tom Danylik said. “I thought we got really good looks to start the second half. We had four bunnies all (off) back rim. If we get three of those, then it becomes a tie game at six minutes and it becomes tighter and tighter.”
“We’ve experienced (Hartel foul trouble) before. Other guys have got to step up,” Ray said. “The learning curve on plugging people into positions has taken more time because of our lack of depth. But the guys reacted well today.”
The Capers led by as much as seven in the first half before a Jacob Blanchard hoop kicked off a 9-0 Falcons run capped by a Bean layup that gave them their first lead, 18-17. Cape Elizabeth regained a 21-20 lead at the half.
“I thought we played a great 16 minutes to start,” said Danylik, who has no seniors on his roster. “We were worried about the level of physicality. They definitely had some advantage over us, height-wise, but I thought we matched that and played really, really well in the first half. Second half, offensively we didn’t execute and defensively got too handsy and sent them to the foul line a lot.”
“No matter how many times you play in playoff games, especially the first one, at the start you’re a little nervous,” said Bowe, who is 4-0 in quarterfinal games in his career. “It’s a different atmosphere. But I think once we settled in, we were a lot better in the second half.”
Mountain Valley’s Will Bean shoots the ball past Cape Elizabeth’s Matt Conley during Saturday’s 2018 Maine State basketball tournament at the Portland Expo. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
Mountain Valley’s Taylor Pelletier pushes past Cape Elizabeth’s Finn Bowe to shoot a basket during Saturday’s 2018 Maine State basketball tournament at the Portland Expo. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
Mountain Valley’s Will Sorensen goes up for a layup as Cape Elizabeth’s Tanner Carpenter get a hand on the ball during Saturday’s 2018 Maine State basketball tournament at the Portland Expo. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
Mountain Valley’s Cameron Godbois shoots the ball as Cape Elizabeth’s Tanner Carpenter and Andrew Hartel play defense during Saturday’s 2018 Maine State basketball tournament at the Portland Expo. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
Mountain Valley’s Will Sorensen passes the ball to a teammate during Saturday’s 2018 Maine State basketball tournament at the Portland Expo. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
Mountain Valley’s Michael Pare takes a shot at the basket at Cape Elizabeth’s Liam Jacobson plays defense and Nathan Mullen comes in the the play for the right behind during Saturday’s 2018 Maine State basketball tournament at the Portland Expo. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
Mountain Valley’s Keegan Davis looks for a teammate to pass the ball to as Cape Elizabeth’s Finn Bowe pressures him from behind during Saturday’s 2018 Maine State basketball tournament at the Portland Expo. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
Mountain Valley’s Taylor Pelletier passes the ball past Cape Elizabeth’s David Hare during Saturday’s 2018 Maine State basketball tournament at the Portland Expo. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
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