No. 11 Westbrook – who’ve looked like upstarts on and off throughout the season – nearly shocked No. 3 Falmouth at the Portland Expo Monday morning, in fact appearing to hold the competitive advantage through much of the play.

On the attack, Sean Jany led the Blazes, and Jack Simonds the Yachtsmen, to a 31-31 tie to begin the final quarter. From there, Jany and Moses Abwoch combined to help elevate Westbrook to a 41-26 advantage with 3:28 to play. Simonds’s three-point shooting and teammate Sam Skop’s work in the paint kept Falmouth close, though, and even gave them a momentary, 43-41 lead.

The Yachtsmen’s Colin Coyne and Thomas Coyne killed much of the last minute by playing keep-away at the top of the zone, but the team’s last-second drive to win didn’t drain, and OT ensued.

In those next four minutes, the Blazes again built a lead. Falmouth forced more than one turnover, though, and despite a beautiful block by Jany to save two Simonds points, Simonds sank his own rebound to tie things at 47 all – and he drew a foul in the process. He hit that free, too, putting the Yachtsmen up 48-47 with roughly five seconds on the clock.

Jany on the attack found himself hemmed in; he spun in the paint and delivered a jumper – a shot he’d previously made – but this time the ball refused to fall. Abwoch grabbed the rebound, spun out from beneath the net and wheeled around to desperately fire, but his Falmouth defender got a finger on the ball and deflected the shot wild to secure the W.

Westbrook retires for the year at 9-11. Falmouth moves on to face South Portland in Friday night’s 8:30 p.m. semifinal at Cross Insurance Arena.

Westbrook’s Blake Fillmore makes for the net, but dishes through heavy coverage. Teammate Sean Jany picked up the pass and momently converted it for two.Westbrook’s Moses Abwoch lobs a shot past a Falmouth defender in the teams’ quarterfinal bout on Monday morning.Sean Jany fires a shallow jumper over a Yachtsmen defender.


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