As time wound down in the third quarter Friday evening at the Portland Expo, senior Kevin Rugabirwa was singlehandedly outscoring visiting Oxford Hills, 20-18.
It was that kind of night for the Portland Bulldogs, who delivered an early knockout blow and went on to a 54-31 victory in a rematch of last year’s Class AA North boys’ basketball final.
The Bulldogs shot to an 18-3 lead after one quarter and never looked back as they improved to 8-2.
“It was just good basketball,” said Rugabirwa, who finished with 20 points and three steals. “We passed the ball well, moved to the open slots and made shots.”
A layup from Cordell Jones got things started for the Bulldogs, then Drew Veilleux hit a 3-pointer and Rugabirwa added a 3 from the corner to force longtime Oxford Hills Coach Scott Graffam to call a timeout.
It didn’t help. Jeissey Khamis converted a three-point play, and after Carter Holbrook got the Vikings on the board with a 3-pointer, Portland scored the final seven points of the quarter – two free throws by Khamis, a Rugabirwa layup after a steal, and a 3-pointer by Jones.
“I wanted for us to get on them and not let them get their confidence going,” said Bulldogs Coach Joe Russo. “We shot better tonight than we have been, and that really helped. We were patient on offense and made the extra pass.”
The Bulldogs struggled for much of the second quarter before Rugabirwa heated up.
First, he hit a 3-pointer from the corner off a pass from Khamis. Then he connected again from the opposite corner, again set up by Khamis. Another Rugabirwa 3-pointer after a feed from Jones stretched Portland’s lead to 30-9 at halftime.
“(Portland’s) got a lot of experience, they’re physical and they’re fast, and we have a lot of JV guys trying to be varsity guys,” Graffam said. “To Portland’s credit, we couldn’t get into our offense in the first half.”
The Bulldogs continued their long-range shooting in the third quarter, as Khamis, Jones and Rugabirwa all buried 3s to extend the lead to 48-18.
Oxford Hills (4-5), which was led by Brady Delamater with seven points, outscored Portland 10-6 in the final quarter.
“We could have lost by 40, but our kids are tough,” Graffam said. “Now, we play two undefeated teams (Windham and Mt. Blue) next week. We’re optimistic. We just want to get in (to the tournament).”
Khamis finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. Jones, a transfer from Gorham who plays a bigger role every time out, also reached double figures with 10 points.
“It’s been fun,” Jones said. “I couldn’t ask for better teammates. I’m starting to figure out my role here.
“I want us to win as many games as possible and get to the state championship game and cap off the season with a win, since (our football team) couldn’t do that.”
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