OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Whenever a team celebrates Senior Night, the best possible ending is having an opportunity to send your seniors out with an ovation from the home crowd.

The Old Orchard Beach boys had a chance to do just that on Tuesday night as the Seagulls celebrated their seniors during a 60-34 win over Sacopee Valley.

“It’s great. Honestly, it’s a feeling I’ve never had,” said senior Zach Hirst of leaving to an ovation from the home crowd.

OOB head coach Mike Burke was happy to get Hirst, Erik Hogan, Sam Custeau, Joe Anderson and Zach Maksut a win on Senior Night.

“I mean, I’ve only been around for a short time, but you can tell that those guys mean something to the greater community. It’s a whole lot bigger than basketball. It’s important to tip the cap to those guys on the way out,” said Burke, who is in his first year with the Seagulls.

It was a particularly special moment for Maksut, who was called up from the junior varsity team to play with his fellow seniors.

“It was great. I’ve been playing bas- ketball with him since first grade … it was special,” said Hogan of Maksut getting to play in a varsity game on Senior Night.

Maksut not only got to see some varsity minutes on Tuesday, he found his way into the scorebook as he went 2-of-2 from the foul line in the win.

“That was awesome. He’ll remember that for the rest of his life,” said Hirst, who finished with 10 points in the win.

Custeau, who scored eight points in the win, was happy to share the Senior Night experience with Maksut.

“It’s always emotional, these nights, and it’s great to see one of our seniors, who has never stepped foot on a varsity court, get some time and actually get some points,” said Custeau.

The Seagulls started Tuesday’s game slowly as they held just a 9-8 lead after the opening period.

“It was typical. The last couple games we’ve been lethargic coming out, but as always, we’ve been a second half team the entire year and same thing tonight,” said Hogan, who finished the game with 13 points.

The Seagulls took control with an 18-8 run in the second quarter and would go on to outscore the Hawks 33-18 in the second half.

OOB, which also got 13 points from Evan Christensen and 10 from Ian Regan, improved to 13-4 with the win – and Burke believes his team has improved tremendously from the start of the season.

“I think quite a bit,” said Burke of the amount of progress his team has shown. “I went back and watched (the game at Sacopee Valley), and it’s not even the same team.”

Hogan believes the Seagulls’ best basketball hasn’t been played yet.

“We’re getting there, but we are not there yet. This next game will tell where we are going into the playoffs,” said Hogan of Thursday’s regular-season finale at Traip.

Burke believes his team has survived a tough schedule and is prepared for the grind of the postseason.

“You get in some of those games that we had all through January, some of those tight games, one-point games, the game at Richmond, the game home against Freeport, you get in those contests and those are what makes for battle-tested team down the road,” said Burke.

The OOB coach is hoping his team, which currently sits in the No. 6 spot of the Class C South standings, will get chance to play at home in the playoffs.

“We are not done playing at home. We would like to think that we certainly have one more and then see where the rest of it take us,” said Burke.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @ JournalTsports.