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For a half, Kollin Donlin, Mason Nguyen and the rest of the Medomak Valley boys basketball team overwhelmed the Poland Knights.

Credit the Knights. Despite a 38-15 halftime deficit, they had a chance to tie the game late before the second-seeded Panthers put away a 63-57 victory in a Class B South semifinal Wednesday at the Portland Expo.

Medomak (17-3) withstood Poland’s challenge by getting key rebounds and just enough free throws. Nguyen (18 points) said the Panthers had seen similar leads slip away during the season and knew to keep their cool.

“It really prepares us for these moments, just to keep the composure and know that we have it under control,” Nguyen said.

Medomak Valley advances to the regional final for the third time in the last five seasons and will face No. 4 Yarmouth at 7:45 p.m. Friday at the Expo. Last season, the Panthers lost to York in the regional final.

The No. 6 Knights (13-7) had Medomak’s lead down to 58-55 with a chance to tie, but Nick Jamo’s deep 3-point attempt missed.

Jamo (17 points) made four of his five 3-pointers in the second half. He said he saw open space and felt good about his potential tying shot — and his team’s effort.

“We know we have it in us. We believed in ourselves that we could do it and we had fun doing it,” said Jamo. “We came out on the short end, but we knew we had it in us.”

The first half was all Medomak. Panthers coach Nick DePatsy said it was the best half his team has played this season. Donlin, a 6-foot-2 junior forward, dominated down low and in transition, scoring 15 of his 26 points. Nguyen, a 6-3 senior guard, had 14 points by halftime. The Panthers were also dominating the rebounding battle on both ends.

“We came out with a sense of urgency. We knew they were smaller. We knew we had to get inside and score that way, and we did a very good job of that,” Donlin said.

Poland went to a trapping defense in the second half, doubling the ballhandler whenever possible. That sped the Panthers up and created more run-out opportunities for Poland, and shots started falling. For most of the third quarter, Medomak kept pace, but a Poland surge that featured five points from Lucas Verrill (seven points) cut the margin to 52-35 after three quarters.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Alex Mains bracketed a Medomak timeout. Damon Martin (12 points) got inside for a basket, and in quick order, Nick Jamo hit two more 3-pointers to make it a 58-55 with 1:40 to play.

Medomak Valley put the game away by making 4 of 6 free throws and grabbing some key rebounds. Donlin collected Jamo’s 3-point miss for the most important of his 15 rebounds and then blocked a Martin shot on Poland’s next possession.