YORK — Jake Fogg said he and his York High boys’ basketball teammates knew they needed to improve after losing three of their previous four games going into Thursday’s matchup against Class C contender Old Orchard Beach, which entered with a 15-1 record.

The Class B Wildcats responded with a 72-54 win, keyed by an offense that made 11 of 25 3-pointers. York also was quite effective inside, with the duo of 6-foot-5 sophomore Lukas Bouchard (20 points) and reserve junior forward Haydn Forbes.

“Well, I feel like after the loss we had at Poland, we knew we had to step it up,” said Fogg, a senior point guard. “We knew Old Orchard was going to be a good team, but we knew we were better. We just had to come out and play with a lot of energy and play like we know how to play.”

York (8-7) had five players in double figures. Derek Parsons scored 16 with five 3-pointers. Connor Roberge finished with 11, including three 3-pointers. Forbes and Fogg each scored 10 points, with Fogg, Roberge and Parsons keying an offense that moved the ball crisply.

Bouchard made all 10 of his shots. Forbes was 5 for 5, including four buckets during an 11-4 run at the end of the third quarter that pushed York’s lead to 56-42.

“For sure they were giving me some good passes down low,” said Bouchard, who consistently caught the passes cleanly and went strong to the rim without hesitation. “Early in the season, I was a little shying away, and fading away, and we’ve just worked in practice and games of just going to the basket and taking it hard, and it’s been working.”

Now it will be Old Orchard Beach’s turn to learn from a loss. The Seagulls’ only other loss was to Class B Maranacook. OOB, which is undefeated against Western Maine Conference Class C teams, finishes the regular season at home Monday against Hall-Dale of the Mountain Valley Conference.

“We can look at this and use it. What can we get better at going into the tournament?” said OOB Coach Matt Regan. “We gave up a ton of second-chance opportunities. We learned you’ve got to rebound the basketball. You’ve got to close out on shooters, and I think offensively when we got down, we lost our composure a bit.”

The Seagulls were led by Brady Croteau with 19 points. Senior guard Landen Johnson scored 14 but fouled out early in the fourth quarter. His fifth foul was a technical after Johnson had drawn a foul on Fogg on one of his many drives to the basket.

Shilo Thao added nine points and a bunch of hustle plays for Old Orchard Beach, which showed during an 8-0 run to close the first quarter some of the reasons it has been successful. The Seagulls are an athletic and relatively long team that scraps for loose balls and battles on the boards, and they can create havoc with their three-quarter-court trapping defense.

One loss won’t change the Seagulls’ goal of getting to the Augusta Civic Center – something no player on the team has done – and then making a run to the state final.

“Honestly, I think we can make it,” Croteau said. “We swept the Western Conference. I think we can do it.”

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