PORTLAND — Gray-New Gloucester fought until the end, but Cooper Aiguier’s big quarter and Marshwood’s length were too much to overcome in the Class A South semifinals on Wednesday.
The third-seeded Hawks caught up in the second quarter and pulled away in the second half to beat the second-seeded Patriots 54-43 at the Portland Expo.
Marshwood (15-5) advances to face No. 1 Falmouth (16-4), a 52-33 winner over No. 4 Westbrook, in the A South final Friday — the second consecutive regional final for the Hawks.
The Patriots finish the season with a 16-4 record, the program’s most wins since 1975.
Though most of Wednesday’s game didn’t go their way, they didn’t concede. Late in the fourth quarter, they continued to disrupt Marshwood’s offense and cause loose balls. In the final minute, Aiden Hebert chased a loose ball to the sideline, saved it by throwing the ball behind him and directly to twin brother Noah, who scored a layup.
Gray-New Gloucester coach Ryan Deschenes said that play embodied the 2022-23 team.
“Our guys compete their tails off,” Deschenes said. “One of our core values is compete, sacrifice. And they do that for us and for each other so well, and they showed that tonight, they went down the right way.
“I’m very, very proud of them. They lost to a very tough, well-coached, physical Marshwood team that, you know, could win a state championship.”
The Patriots opened the game playing at their preferred fast pace, with constant motion on both ends of the court. On defense, they got a hand on passes and contested the Hawks’ shots. On offense, they were patient, passing the ball around and consistently moving until they got an open shot. They attacked openings in the paint, and kicked out to open shooters.
Max Kenney scored five points to pace the Patriots to a 12-7 lead.
“We definitely imposed our pace early and kind of had our pace and rhythm that we wanted, and we found the middle of their zone open early, kind of exploited that,” Deschenes said. “And then as the game went on, it shifted to their pace.”
Aiguier was held scoreless in the opening quarter, but started firing and connecting in the second. He hit three 3-pointers and scored 11 points in the period to lead the Hawks back into the game.
After Aiguier’s second trey, which got Marshwood within one point, 20-19, Gray-New Gloucester’s top scorer, Nate Hebert, scored his first points of the game on a 3-pointer, which put the Patriots up 23-19. Aiguier answered with his third 3.
“My mindset is to just keep shooting,” Aiguier said. “At first, I had to get comfortable with the atmosphere, but once I got going, there was no stopping.”
Marshwood’s Andrew Perry scored in the final minute to even the score at 24-24 going into halftime. Perry had seven points in the first half.
Gray-New Gloucester’s offense was limited to three 3-pointers — two by Noah Hebert and one by Nate Hebert — and a free throw by Kenney in the third quarter. Everything near the basket was shut down by Perry or Andrew Herrin.
Aiguier added another trey and eight points in the third as the Hawks pulled out to a 42-34 lead heading into the final period.
Aiguier led all scorers with 20 points, while Perry added 16 and Herrin scored eight.
Noah Hebert made three 3-pointers and led Gray-New Gloucester with 14 points, while Kenney finished with 13. Nate Hebert and Aidan Hebert each had six points.
Deschenes said this season’s Patriots were special both for what they accomplished and the type of team they were.
“I’m extremely proud,” he said. “I mean, these guys have shown me that you can really buy into roles again. Guys can accept their roles if you know you have a family atmosphere where if everyone has that connection then everyone buys in and does what’s best for the team. These guys showed me that can be possible. And, really excited that they had the most wins since 1975, got back to the semis. Love to get to a regional final, but, you know, we’ll see what happens moving forward.”
Though Gray-NG will lose Kenney, Mikey Ryan, Nicholas Bouchard and a few other seniors to graduation, the majority of the core of this year’s team are juniors and will return next season, including Aidan, Nate and Noah Hebert, and Carter Libby.
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