With just over two minutes to play in the third quarter against Cheverus last Friday night, South Portland had a two-point lead. By the end of the quarter, the Riots faced a six-point deficit. Less than a minute into the fourth, the Red Riots trailed Cheverus by 11.

“The difference in the game was that run the last minute of the third and first couple of the fourth,” said South Portland High boys basketball coach Phil Conley. “They hit some shots and we didn’t come down and counter that with scoring.”

Cheverus maintained at least an eight-point lead over the final seven minutes, defeating South Portland for the second time in eight days in front of a capacity crowd at Beal Gym in South Portland.

The Stags stayed perfect, moving to 16-0, and sit atop the latest Western A Heal Points by a hefty margin. South Portland dropped to 13-3 and is No. 3. Exactly a week prior to Friday’s game, the Riots fell at Cheverus, 60-41. Before that game, South Portland sharpshooter and second-leading scorer Matt Lee suffered a season-ending knee injury.

His offensive presence was certainly missed. His ability to make 3s – he had seven in a game against Bonny Eagle earlier this season – prevented teams from focusing solely on Keegan Hyland, the Riots’ junior guard who leads the SMAA in scoring.

Hyland scored a game-high 20 points for South Portland but no other Riot managed more than five. The Cheverus defense keyed on Hyland, who always had one – and usually two or three – defenders on him whenever he touched the ball. His four 3-pointers through three quarters kept the Riots close, but he was held to just four points over the final 12 minutes of the game, and picked up his fourth foul on a charge with 5:29 to go.

Cheverus coach Bob Brown was pleased with his team’s defensive effort on Hyland. He rotated players throughout to keep fresh legs on him. He said that helped hold him to less than 30 percent shooting from the field.

“He’s always going to (get his points),” Brown said. “That’s what he does for that team. That’s the guy, and other people have to play off of him. He’s going to get that many, he’s expected to, and they’re going to get that many shots for him. But I thought we did a good job on him.”

South Portland fell behind 7-0 early, forcing Conley to call timeout. Out of the timeout, Hyland buried a 3 to put the Riots on the board. He finished the quarter with a pair of 3s and eight points, as South Portland trailed 14-10 after a quarter.

Vukasin Vignjevic’s putback tied the score at 14-14 with 6:30 to go in the second. The Riots took a 20-19 lead on Jon DiBiase’s driving layup midway through the quarter. After both teams went scoreless for nearly three minutes, Mick DiStasio’s three-point play in the final minute gave Cheverus a 22-20 lead heading into halftime. DiStasio finished with a team-high 17 points, including four 3s.

The teams went back and forth in the third. Hyland opened the quarter with a 3, only to have Cheverus’ Peter Foley answer with a three-point play. Lenny Cummings scored inside for Cheverus, but Hyland hit again from downtown. A free throw by South Portland’s Connor Hasson tied game at 27-27 midway through the third. The Riots took the lead with 3:03 left as Hyland hit Spencer Bowring on the break for a layup.

That’s when Cheverus point guard Indiana Faithfull took over. With DiStasio cold in the third (he was scoreless in the quarter), Faithfull picked up the scoring burden. He scored 12 of his 16 points over the last 11 minutes, his most impressive hoop coming at the third-quarter buzzer to give Cheverus a 35-29 lead entering the fourth.

After DiStasio missed a 3, Faithfull chased down the rebound in the right corner and released an off-balance, high-arching shot just before time ran out. It dropped in.

“That was an unbelievable shot he made at the end of the third – behind the backboard from almost out of bounds. That was a tough one,” Conley said.

“I was just lucky it bounced to me,” Faithfull said. “I threw it up. Not sure it’s ever going to happen again, but it was nice.”

DiStasio found his jumper again in the fourth. A 3 from the right corner gave Cheverus a 40-29 lead 43 seconds into the fourth. Hyland’s two free throws with three minutes remaining made it 44-36, but South Portland got no closer as Faithfull made all six of his free throws down the stretch.

“I thought our guys played extremely hard tonight,” Conley said. “I thought defensively we were fine. (Offensively) we’ll have to look at the tape and make some adjustments.”

The game drew a sellout crowd, according to South Portland High athletic director Kevin Woodhouse. There were about 1,400 fans in attendance, Woodhouse said, adding that it was the first sellout since a McAuley-South Portland girls game some five years ago.

Brown, who coached South Portland for several years in the 1970s and 80s, said Conley is responsible for revitalizing the program.

“We used to come here when there were empty seats all over,” said Brown, in his eighth season coaching the Stags. “Phil Conley has really turned this program around.”

Conley said the credit goes to the community.

“You couldn’t ask for a better atmosphere,” said Conley, in his second year as head coach. “Our South Portland community has supported us greatly this year. Our student body has been great. They’re our sixth man. I appreciate all the support the community has given me and given our team.”

South Portland was scheduled to play at Deering on Wednesday (after the Current’s deadline) before wrapping up the regular season on Friday night against Portland at the Expo.

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