The stars came out to shine Wednesday night at the Portland Expo.

But there was still room for unlikely tournament heroes.

The Class A South boys’ basketball semifinals, featuring the top four teams in the region, didn’t disappoint. Greely High senior Logan Bagshaw nearly willed his team to an upset of unbeaten York, scoring 34 points. York’s junior standout, Brady Cummins, had 21 points in the Wildcats’ 59-57 nail-biting win.

In the opening game, No. 3 Falmouth beat No. 2 Kennebunk, 64-51. Falmouth senior Michael Simonds smoothly and efficiently scored 23 points on just nine shots, and Kennebunk’s Max Murray kept his team alive for most of the game with a forceful 32 points.

But it was York’s Jonathan Donovan, scoreless for the first 31 minutes and 56 seconds, who produced the most crucial basket. With the Wildcats trailing by a point and the clock down to about 10 seconds, Riley Linn missed a 3-ponter. Cummins tried to tip it in, then jumped a second time and slapped at the ball to keep it alive. Donovan grabbed it just before it hit the floor, went up for a shot, absorbed contact, and made his short jumper with 3.7 seconds left. Fouled on the play, he added a free throw for a 59-57 lead.

“I just crashed the rebound. That’s what you do,” Donovan said. “Honestly, I was just waiting for my time to shine. A bunch of kids on the team can play.”

Greely didn’t get off a shot, as it was unable to get the ball back to Bagshaw, who made the inbounds pass. One couldn’t help but expect that, had he gotten off a last shot, it would have been Greely celebrating the continuation of its tournament streak, instead of suffering a third loss this season to York.

“There’s one game that we put together four quarters this year and we played our heart out and it was this game,” Bagshaw said. “It’s tough to take away from a game that you lost, but everyone played hard. We did what we were supposed to do, and unfortunately it didn’t go our way.”

Before Donovan’s timely heroics, York got needed help from senior reserve Tommy Coughlin, who made three straight 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to give York a six-point lead.

“Pretty much when I go in, I’m a scorer. Coach puts me in to shoot and get that boost for my team,” Coughlin said.

“Teams win,” is how York Coach Paul Marquis put it.

That was evident in Falmouth’s victory. Simonds was superb, making 7 of 9 shots from the floor (3 of 4 3-pointers) and all six of his free throws. But equally important was forward Emmett Hamilton taking advantage of Kennebunk’s perimeter-focused defense by scoring 20 points in the paint, alertly being ready for passes from Simonds and junior guard Nicco Pitre after they coolly deconstructed Kennebunk’s traps and schemes.

Falmouth Coach David Halligan wasn’t surprised Simonds, and by extension the other top players, had strong games. “Basketball guys live for these types of games. He’s probably played this in his head a thousand times,” Halligan said.

Falmouth (16-4) and York (20-0) get at least one more chance to produce more memorable moments in the regional final Friday night at Cross Insurance Arena. Simonds sounds like he’ll be ready.

“It’s a beautiful court, the best place to play in Maine in my opinion, and it’s always the biggest games that are there.”

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