Kennebunk High was hitting on all cylinders and Leavitt struggled from the outset as the No. 5 Rams rolled to a 72-55 win in a Class A South boys’ basketball quarterfinal Friday night at the Portland Expo.
No. 5 Kennebunk (15-4) advances to a semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Cross Insurance Arena against No. 1 Greely or No. 8 Mt. Ararat.
Max Murray scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half as Kennebunk took leads of 23-10 after one quarter and 43-21 at halftime.
Kennebunk put on a fast-break clinic in the first half, and did just about everything else well, too.
With Murray leading the effort on the defensive boards, the Rams ran at every opportunity, including a Murray basket after a rare basket by Leavitt.
Kennebunk shot 19 of 32 in the first half, with everyone contributing. Murray powered inside and hung above attempted shot blocks. Zack Sullivan ran the court and hit a 3-pointer, scoring nine of his 11 points in the first quarter. Leavitt chose to leave Tripp Bush unguarded, but he hit two 3s.
At the other end, Leavitt couldn’t find the range, shooting 8 of 29 overall and 1 of 8 from behind the arc.
The Hornets did cut the lead to 16 points in the third quarter, only to have Cam Lovejoy answer with a deep 3 and two fast-break buckets to make it 59-36 heading into the fourth. Lovejoy scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half.
Leavitt’s leading scorer, Wyatt Hathaway (23.2 ppg), finished with nine points and had to be taken off the court in obvious pain with 5:00 left after a hard foul while converting a tough layup in traffic to make the score 66-40.
Joziah Learned led Leavitt with 12 points.
This story will be updated.
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