SACO — It might be one of the oldest cliches in the book, but sometimes it’s absolutely true ”“ when two rivals meet, you can throw out the records.

The Biddeford boys basketball team proved that theory on Thursday night as they took rival Thornton Academy to the wire before dropping a 62-58 heartbreaker.

Thornton would jump out to a 13-0 lead at the start of the game, but Biddeford battled all the way back with a 12-4 run at the end of the first to cut the lead to 16-12 after one.

“We got up early and they didn’t stop playing. That was just a great job by Biddeford, they were really well coached tonight,” said Thornton coach Bob Davies.

Biddeford got nine points from Patrick Pearl in the second quarter as the Tigers outscored Thornton 18-14 and sent the game into the half tied at 30.

The Trojans would used nine points from Corey Hart as they seemed to take control in the third quarter with a 19-11 run.

Biddeford wasn’t done just yet.

The Tigers got a huge 12-point fourth quarter from Pearl ”“ including several clutch shots down the stretch ”“ to outscore the Trojans 17-13 in the period. It wouldn’t be enough as Demel Ruff scored all five of his points in the final period and Hart went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe to close out the win for Thornton.

Biddeford coach Justin Tardif was impressed with his team’s performance against a tough Thornton squad ”“ and is excited for the future of the program.

“I think for our kids it was just another chance to get better, to just improve and end the season on a positive note so they can have some confidence going into the offseason,” said Tardif. “They will have some confidence going into the summer session and into next year. We’re only losing one senior, pretty much the majority of the team is juniors and sophomores and I thought they did a good job this year of understanding the long term focus and where we are trying to get as a team.”

Thornton was led by Hart with 19 points, while Ben Lambert finished with 17 and Kevin Barrett chipped in with 12.

It was a special night for Barrett, who has always enjoyed playing against Thornton’s biggest rival.

“(Rivalry games) are a lot of fun. This one was real special to me with it being my last Battle of the Bridge,” said Barrett. “It’s a lot of fun. We get a lot of support during these games and there’s a huge student section and they all love it.”

Pearl exploded for 29 points in the loss and got some big time praise from his head coach.

“Patrick played the best game of his career and he played the best game of any individual player since Bobby Cote a few years ago,” said Tardif, who is happy to have a chance to work with Pearl over the next two years. “He’s a sophomore who had to take the number one scoring position on our team and that is not an easy thing to do as a sophomore, to be the number one guy. He does it all for us on the offensive end and I’m just so lucky that my first year as coach, I was able to coach him as a freshman.”

While Biddeford will have to wait for next season to get back on the hardwood, Thornton is headed to the playoffs ”“ and Davies knows they will be ready on Tuesday.

“We’ve got a few days and playoffs also bring out the best in players. Tomorrow, I’m sure these guys will be thinking about the next game and not the last one,” said Davies.