AUGUSTA — There was no letdown for Waynflete this time.

A year after letting a 16-point lead slip away on the same court and losing in the Class C South quarterfinals, the No. 2 Flyers just kept building their lead in Monday’s 67-32 regional quarterfinal win against No. 7 Old Orchard Beach at the Augusta Civic Center.

The 2018 loss to Boothbay was mentioned all week leading up to the game and again briefly at halftime, with the Flyers leading 40-19 after a dominant second-quarter effort.

“We had pictures, I had paper versions of the newspaper around, to remind them. I didn’t need to. The seniors did,” said Waynflete Coach Rich Henry. “We needed to keep going. That’s what we talked about at halftime.”

Waynflete (15-2) advances to play No. 3 Hall-Dale (18-1) in Thursday’s 7 p.m. regional semifinal, pitting two athletic teams that like to score in transition. Hall-Dale posted an impressive 83-57 win against No. 6 Monmouth behind 34 points from athletic 6-foot-5 senior Ashtyn Abbott.

“Hall-Dale is very impressive. They run the floor really well,” Henry said “I think we need to make them play defense and make it a little harder for them on offense.”

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Waynflete showed it can also run the floor and use its size to turn rebounds into quick outlet passes at the defensive end and extra chances on offense.

After struggling a bit in the first quarter against Old Orchard’s zone defense, Waynflete blew the game open with a 26-8 second quarter. The Flyers used a half-court trap to increase tempo and used their size advantage to score 12 points on putbacks, the last a buzzer-beater by senior guard Finn Scott, who had 11 of his team-high 17 points in the first half.

“We have a really big team, especially for Class C, and it helps a lot. The boards are definitely a big factor in a lot of games we play,” Scott said.

The bench also contributed with 10 second-quarter points – four from Burr Rhoads, one of 10 Flyers to score. Sixth man Askar Houssein heated up in the second half and finished with 14 points. Starter Diraige Dahia and reserve Musaid Mohammed, both seniors, scored seven points apiece.

“We had so many contributors off the bench. It was one of the biggest things that helped us grow the lead,” Scott said.

It was Waynflete’s third win this season against youthful Old Orchard (9-11), which starts three sophomores, by an average of 37.3 points.

OOB sophomores Ryan Crockett (12 points) and Zachary LaPlante (9 points) were the Gulls’ primary threats.


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