AUGUSTA — Not that there was much lingering doubt, but it’s now safe to believe the hype about Messalonskee’s Nick Mayo.
Neither the bright lights of Augusta Civic Center nor constant Oxford Hills double-teams had a prayer of stopping the 6-foot-8, Eastern Kentucky-bound forward Saturday. Mayo’s clinic: 31 points and 14 rebounds in the Eagles’ convincing 58-42 Class A East boys’ basketball quarterfinal win.
“Early and often and never enough,” Messalonskee coach Peter McLaughlin said of the plan to feed his big man. “When you have a talented player like him, you want to get him the ball. Oxford Hills we knew had to put an (Andrew) Fleming, a (Tyus) Ripley or somebody like that on him if they really wanted to stop him.”
Oxford Hills tried to position one of its stars in the front and one in the back, and it rarely prevented Mayo from cashing in with a hook, an uncontested layup or a second-chance bucket.
Oh, or 3-pointers, too. Mayo nailed a pair of those, one a bank shot, in quick succession to ignite the third quarter.
No. 3 Messalonskee (14-5) logged its first quarterfinal win since 2007 and will face three-time defending regional champion No. 2 Hampden in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“That was the plan early, to get me going,” Mayo said. “My teammates got me the ball. It was good to be out with the lead like that. Momentum, it definitely helped.”
With the exception of a 10-0 run to end the third period and cut the deficit from 19 points to nine, No. 6 Oxford Hills (10-9) produced no such forward motion.
Fleming finished with 12 points for the Vikings. Ripley added 10.
“We game-planned for him, but we didn’t execute the game plan,” Oxford Hills coach Scott Graffam said. “We were supposed to front him any time he got in the high post area. Everybody complains about fouls being called, but playing behind a 6-8 kid, you’re going to foul him.”
Messalonskee went 22-for-33 from the free-throw line, compared to 7-for-10 for Oxford Hills.
Mayo scored a dozen without the benefit of freebies in the second quarter, when the Eagles expanded a 14-10 lead to 28-18.
“Usually guys who are that big are slow,” Ripley said. “He’s not. He’s athletic. He can move.”
Jack Bernatchez shadowed Fleming for the Eagles, who forced 12 first half turnovers and held the Vikings to 32 percent shooting prior to the break.
“He’s kind of the person nobody ever hears about,” McLaughlin said. “He’s probably our best defender. He’s the guy we put on the other team’s best player. Today I thought he kept him aggravated, off balance, and it allowed Mayo to kind of float and alter shots around the rim.”
The Eagles weren’t Mayo-dependent on offense, either.
When Ripley’s 3-point play brought Oxford Hills within a baker’s dozen at 37-24 with 4:43 left in the third, Messalonskee responded with Mayo’s dish to Taylor Turner for two. Senior co-captain Trevor Gettig then produced back-to-back buckets off the bench.
Cole Verrier’s second 3-pointer of the game triggered the Vikings’ last chance to make a game of it. Fleming sandwiched two baskets around a Blake Slicer trey to cap the quarter.
“It was an eye-opening experience for a couple of our younger players. Other than Andrew and Tyus, nobody had really played up here,” Graffam said. “I don’t know what the future will bring, but I’m sure if we come back here again it will be different.”
Mayo gave his coach, teammates and fans a scare at the 6:55 mark of the fourth when he rolled his ankle after tripping over Turner on a putback.
Messalonskee actually padded the lead in his absence, thanks in part to a technical foul against Fleming. Nate Violette and Turner went 3-of-4 from the line. Mayo hit four in succession from the stripe after his return.
Turner had 11 points and four steals for the Eagles.
“Taylor Turner was huge for us tonight taking charges and hitting some open shots back door,” McLaughlin said. “We understand that Nick is kind of the focal point of what we do, but we need the support from everybody else. Other teams are going to triple, double, and we need to step up.”
Oxford Hills reached the regional final as the No. 6 seed in 2014. That ended a 10-year tournament drought.
“We lose three seniors, and only Patrick (Macro) from the starting lineup,” Ripley said.
And the Vikings won’t be the only ones exhaling sighs of relief that Mayo is gone.
koakes@sunjournal.com
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