Wells won its second straight Class B South title last year as a No. 1 seed. Now the Warriors are back, trying to continue their run but as an underdog eighth seed.

They looked like anything but underdogs Saturday night in a 62-52 win over this year’s No. 1, Mountain Valley, at the Portland Expo.

Tyler Bridge led all scorers with 19 points and eight rebounds, but got plenty of support from Matt Sherburne (15 points, seven rebounds) and Caleb Corey (14 points) for Wells (10-10).

Jacob Blanchard led Mountain Valley (16-3) with 13 points, while Casey Cormier added 11 points.

Wells advances to face No. 4 Gray-New Gloucester in the regional semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Cross Insurance Arena.

Sherburne, one of the three returning starters from last year’s team, said the Warriors feel no pressure as the No. 8 seed but didn’t feel much as a No. 1 seed, either.

“We have nothing to lose so we’re just going to throw everything at them,” the senior guard said. “It feels the same way (as being a No. 1 seed) just because everyone’s record is 0-0 once you get into the tournament.”

Wells jumped out to an 11-8 lead after one quarter, then went on a 16-3 run to start the second to put the Falcons on their heels.

“It was really important, just to know that we could play with them,” Sherburne said. “They were the No. 1 seed and we didn’t know them. We hadn’t played them before. We had no film on them.”

Corey’s second 3-pointer answered one by Mountain Valley’s Keegan Davis (eight points) to put the Warriors’ lead into double figures for the first time at 22-11. A Payton MacKay layup preceded Corey’s third 3 of the half for a 27-11 lead. The Warriors added one more point to their lead before going into halftime up 33-16.

Wells didn’t have a single turnover in the first half.

“Wells is a battle-tested team,” Mountain Valley Coach Scot New said. “They play some tough teams every single night and just because they’re 9-10 doesn’t mean that they’re not ready to play,” New said.

The Falcons turned up the pressure in the second half but made little progress on the deficit until the fourth quarter. A 3-pointer by Cormier, followed by his three-point play on a baseline drive and a putback by Cooper Davis, pulled them within 49-41 with 4:05 to go.

But Wells got back-to-back hoops inside from MacKay and Bridge, then rode Sherburne’s free-throw shooting down the stretch to spoil any Mountain Valley comeback hopes.

“Matt Sherburne has ice in his veins,” Wells Coach Troy Brown said. “He made some great decisions with the basketball today.

“We haven’t really been that disciplined all year. I thought this was our best-disciplined basketball game, where we listened to what we wanted to accomplish coming out and were patient on offense in the second half when things were starting to get a little dicey.”

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