BIDDEFORD — After losing to Westbrook and scoring just 33 points, the Biddeford basketball team would have another tough task squaring off against Class AA powerhouse Scarborough on Monday afternoon.

The underdog Tigers would not only pull off the upset, but they would dominate for nearly the entire 32 minutes to cruise to a stunning 68-39 win.

“We came (and knew) it was going to be very a tough game. We would need 32 minutes to play, I’m not surprised that we pulled it out, I was a little bit surprised that it was so convincing in the fourth quarter,” said Biddeford coach Justin Tardif.

Biddeford took a 27-24 lead into the halftime break, but would begin the third quarter by going on a 15-0 run and would mount a 44-30 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Tigers hit five 3-pointers in the first three quarters, and would then hit five more in the fourth to close out the lopsided win.

“We shot a lot better than when we played Westbrook. Westbrook could take us by not pushing the ball as fast but I felt like that’s what we needed to do today,” said Biddeford’s DeSean Cromwell. “Push the ball, get easier buckets, once we pushed the ball and got their defense moving it was a lot easier to get points.”

Cody Saucier led Biddeford with 27 points, including five 3-pointers. Kyle Norton added 17 while Cromwell chipped in nine.

Tardif was pleased with his team’s aggressive offensive approach, especially during the third quarter.

“We did a good job attacking (in the third) — there were a few matchups that we felt were in our advantage so we tried to get that guy the ball a little bit. It allowed him to try to create for himself, as he drives in they would help and he did a nice job making the extra pass. I think a lot of our points today came off of assists,” said Tardif.

Tardif felt that his team’s defense also did a good job of setting up the offense, and was efficient in shutting down the usually dominant Scarborough attack.

“It started on the defensive side. When we’ve got our five guys set up defensively in our half court D, we force them to take a lot of tough shots consistently. When we get stops it’s easy to fastbreak and all of a sudden the game offensively is a lot easier too,” said Tardif.

Biddeford jumped out to a 14-3 lead to begin the game, but the Red Storm quickly came back and tied the score at 16-16 in the opening minute of the second quarter.

“They got back into the game because we didn’t do a great job transitioning from our press to man. They hit a couple of open three’s,” said Tardif. “It was definitely a game of runs. Give (Scarborough) credit, they made a run there to get themselves back in the game, but then we made that run from the start of the third quarter. We just kept it going.”

Although the Red Storm made things uncomfortable, the battle-tested Tigers remained calm and weathered the attack.

“We were pretty composed — we’ve been in games like that where teams will go on 10-0 runs on us. All that matters is that we keep playing,” said Cromwell.

The Tigers improve to 6-3 while the Red Storm drop to 8-3. Biddeford hopes to hold on to the momentum and make a strong playoff push.

“We knew coming into this game that we needed this win. All 13 of us built in together as a team, we just played our brand of basketball,” said Cromwell. “We’re determined, we want to get to the Civic Center.”

— Associate Sports Editor Alex Sponseller can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.