AUGUSTA – Surreal, unbelievable and, above all, down right deflating.

There are tough starts, and then there is the one the Hall-Dale High School boys basketball endured Thursday night in a 90-31 drubbing to Dirigo in a Western C semifinal at the Augusta Civic Center.

The Cougars put on a jaw-dropping performance in the opening eight minutes, out-scoring the Bulldogs 30-7.

And that was more than enough for the defending regional champs to advance.

“It was brutal,” Hall-Dale coach Jim Patrick said. “Dirigo definitely came ready to play. Our kids were a little bit timid because of our first matchup with them. But Dirigo is definitely the real thing.”

Cody St. Germain scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed six rebounds to pace Dirigo, which beat Hall-Dale 71-42 in the regular season.

Caleb Turner scored 15 points while Josh Turbide and Ben Holmes each added 13 for the Cougars, who will meet upstart Old Orchard Beach in the Western C final Saturday night at 8:45 p.m.

The sixth-seeded Seagulls (13-7) surprised No. 2 Waynflete 63-42 to reach their first regional final since 1994.

Ben Crocker scored eight points and Mike Woods added five to lead No. 4 Hall-Dale (13-7).
Dirigo put this one away in a hurry.

It led 26-1 before Hall-Dale scored its first field goal of the game, a Harry Cheung short jump shot with 1 minute, 26 seconds left in the quarter.

Dirigo made four 3-pointers in the opening six minutes, including two from Turbide.

The Cougars also forced 11 Hall-Dale turnovers in the quarter, with seven leading to easy baskets the other way.

“It got away in a hurry,” Patrick said. “We wanted to slow things down. We wanted to play a slow game. My kids had a hard time adjusting because we played a fast game throughout the season.”

Already up 6-1 just a minute and a half into the game, Turbide and Turner each scored layups off steals to push the lead to 10-1. 

St. Germain, who found his shot early and often, scored six points in the opening run as well.
The Bulldogs, who missed their first nine shots and were out of sorts from the opening tip, couldn't recover.

They made just four field goals in the first half, and things didn't get much better in the second.
St. Germain made three consecutive baskets to open the second half as the Cougars showed no signs of letting up.

The lead swelled to 67-22 midway through the third before both teams started substituting freely.  
“I'm really proud of the guys,” Patrick said. “We had a good season.”

Bill Stewart – 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com

 


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