Coach Joe Russo holds a ball denoting his 500th win after Portland defeated Oxford Hills in the Class AA North quarterfinals on Wednesday night. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

You don’t get to the threshold of a basketball coaching milestone without knowing how to deliver a halftime message that actually works.

Portland High boys basketball coach Joe Russo was in such a situation Wednesday night. His No. 3 Bulldogs were hosting No. 6 Oxford Hills in a Class AA North quarterfinal at the Portland Expo. Portland led 19-18 at halftime, as both teams struggled to shoot and hold onto the ball. Portland had one stretch in the second quarter with five turnovers and zero shots.

Fire and brimstone? Tear into the team? Nope. Russo was calm, telling his players they were in good shape, leading a playoff game. They just needed some small adjustments, like more urgency and desire on defense.

That’s all it took. Cordell Jones scored at the rim twice in the first minute of the second half, Maddox Meas and Loic Ramazani picked up the defensive tempo, and Portland gradually built a double-digit lead. With neither team showing the ability to make an outside shot, it might as well been 25 points.

Portland won, 56-38, making Russo the 10th Maine high school basketball coach to reach 500 wins.

“Tonight’s victory was much more important than 500 wins, but if you do something long enough, you’re bound to hit some milestone,” Russo said. “All the credit goes to the players. I put them through the work and the practices and they work hard, and when you work hard, good things happen. This team has done some incredible things this year.”

A chance at win number 501 will come next Thursday at 1 p.m. at Cross Insurance Arena against defending state champion Windham.

“It felt great to get him his 500th win. That wasn’t even the goal going into the season,” said Jones, the only Portland player who started the season with significant varsity experience. “We had low aspirations at the beginning of the season because of a rough start, young team, all the typical excuses. Then we kind of came together in the middle of the season and came together and regrouped. Now we’re on a roll, and hopefully we’ll get more than just his 500th win this season.”

Jones finished with 10 points, all in the second half. Meas led all scorers with 15 points, and Lucas LeGage (14) and Ramazani (13) also reached double figures for Portland (10-9), which turned a 29-24 lead after three quarters into a 39-26 margin midway through the fourth.

For Oxford Hills (8-11), which was forced into 12 second-half turnovers, Brady Delamater scored 11 points and Brayden Murch had 10.

Russo, a Portland native who grew up on Munjoy Hill and played basketball at UMaine Presque Isle, is in his 34th season as Portland’s head coach. Russo started his teaching and coaching career at Bonny Eagle, winning 11 games in three seasons. “I do remember my very first varsity win was against Noble. I can’t remember the score,” he said.

Russo said he enjoyed working at Bonny Eagle and toyed with the idea of moving to the Standish area. But he and his wife, Donna, who met in junior high and began dating as high school juniors, both wanted to stay in Portland. They’ll celebrate their 45th anniversary this summer.

“When this job (at Portland) came, it was the dream job, pretty much,” Russo said. “Mainly because being from Portland and going to Portland High, you’re happy for the players. I was just like them growing up. So it means a lot when you’re doing it for the school you grew up in. I’m happy for the city and the school and the kids.”

After Wednesday’s game, Russo was presented with a game ball and then posed for pictures with his team and then a pack of his nine grandchildren.

“He doesn’t like all the attention,” said Donna Russo. “I’m so proud of him. Of his hard work.”

Russo was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Large B Cell Lymphoma in February 2018, shortly after he had completed his 28th season as the Bulldogs’ coach. With the cancer in remission, Russo never missed a season.

His assistant coaches and peers joke that Russo has been saying “this is my last year,” for at least 15 years. He has said it to reporters after tough playoff losses, looking drawn and exhausted. But it’s always with the caveat that he would take a couple weeks to think about it. To this point, he’s always returned.

“It’s the same now. I may not come back. It would have nothing to do with the 500th. It would be more my energy level,” said the 68-year-old Russo. “Or I may come back another year. It would be tough to leave a young group.”