AUGUSTA — Down two points and coming out of a timeout with 6.8 seconds to play, the Madison boys’ basketball team got what it was looking for. The problem for the Bulldogs was, so did Boothbay.
Madison worked the ball inside to Devon Watt, who got off a short jumper with 2 seconds left. Boothbay’s Abel Bryer was there for the block, however, and the Seahawks survived to take a 61-59 win in a Class C South quarterfinal Monday afternoon at the Augusta Civic Center.
No. 6 Boothbay (13-7) will face No. 2 Winthrop in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Thursday. No. 3 Madison ends the season at 15-4.
During the final timeout, Boothbay Coach I.J. Pinkham reminded his team that the Bulldogs only needed two points to tie the game.
“I said ‘They only need two. I don’t think they’ll look for the 3,” Pinkham said. “Now let’s make sure the guy that took the ball out of bounds won’t slip in and they go to him for the 2.’ They did that a number of times.”
Madison Coach Jason Furbush said the final play called for Watt to get the ball in the low post. Bryer’s block was his fourth of the game.
“We got exactly what we were looking for. There was a scrum there, and it didn’t go in,” Furbush said. “Bryer makes a play. He’s long and he’s a heck of a player.”
Boothbay took a 61-58 lead on a pair of Kyle Ames free throws with 54.8 seconds left. Madison cut the deficit to 61-59 on a Chris Beaman foul shot with 22 seconds remaining. Boothbay couldn’t handle the rebound on Beaman’s missed second shot, and Madison retained the ball, setting up one final chance to tie or win.
Boothbay led 29-26 at halftime, and early in the third quarter it appeared the Seahawks would pull away. A 9-2 run pushed the Seahawks’ lead to 38-28 with 4:58 left in the third quarter.
Madison answered with a 10-1 run cutting Boothbay’s lead to 39-38 on a pair of Beaman free throws with 3:01 left in the third.
A Chase Malloy 3-pointer tied the game at 43-43 with 1:27 to go, and Madison took a brief 45-43 lead on a Mitch Jarvais layup with 20 seconds left in the quarter.
“We finally woke up. Our intensity picked up a great deal. It was just too late,” Furbush said. “We had to fight back, and maybe we ran out of energy a little bit.”
Boothbay and Madison split a pair of regular-season games.
“They’re really athletic. They depend on (Ty) Greene to shoot 3s, and Malloy’s a nice player,” Pinkham said.
“Their big kids can play when they get the ball to them. They’re a good team.”
Both teams struggled with turnovers. Madison had 16, while Boothbay committed 21.
The first half was a series of runs, in which Boothbay would push its lead to six or seven points, only to see the Bulldogs rally and cut the deficit to a couple points. While Madison held the 6-foot-4 Bryer to nine points, Jacob Leonard had 20 points for Boothbay, many coming in transition.
“Abel only had nine points. I’m surprised we win when Abel only gets nine points,” Pinkham said.
“They’re bigger than we are, and they’re more athletic than we are.”
Kyle Ames scored 12 points and Carter Babcock added 13 for Boothbay.
Malloy, Beaman and Jarvais each scored 14 points for Madison.
“There’s no other team I’d go into battle with than these guys right here,” Furbush said. “We had great leadership from the seniors.”
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