MPA Tournament Update: A South

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's state tournament season in Maine and there's already been plenty of fireworks this week.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Today, we'll take a look at the regional semifinal matchups in the A South region - where three of the top four seeds have already been eliminated.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Take a look at <em>How They Got Here</em>, results from <em>Previous Matchups</em>, and the <em>Players To Watch</em> in tonight's matchups out of Portland!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">#6 Portland vs. #2 Sanford</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>How They Got Here:</em> <strong>Portland </strong>won a prelimary round game against <em>#11 Falmouth</em> by the score of 51-42 and followed that up with a quarterfinal victory over <em>#3 South Portland</em> (34-33), which was one of the games of the tournament so far. <strong>Sanford </strong>had a bye into the quarterfinals, where they took care of business against <em>#10 Bonny Eagle</em>, by the score of 62-48.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Previous Matchup:</em> <strong>Portland</strong> and <strong>Sanford</strong> met once in the regular season, a game that took place in Portland on January 30th. Sanford pulled away in the second half to win that matchup by the score of 70-62. The Spartans had four players hit double figures in the contest, led by [player_tooltip player_id='3456030' first='Dylan' last='Gendron']'s 17. The Bulldogs also had four players reach double figures and were paced by Maddox Meas' 16 points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Players to Watch:</em> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Portland</strong> continues to take a "by committee" approach to winning - on any given night one of six different players could lead them in scoring. <strong><em>Loic Ramazani</em></strong> has been their most consistent scorer of late, with 19 points against <em>Falmouth</em> and 10 against <em>South Portland</em>. <strong><em>Benilson Lumani</em> </strong>came up huge against <em>South Portland</em>, the athletic forward registered 13 points and 4 blocks in that game. Other notable contributors for the Bulldogs include two senior guards - <strong><em>Lucas Legage</em></strong> and <strong><em>Cordell Jones</em></strong>. Legage has the ability to go off for 20+ on any given night and is often the focal point of opposing defenses, while Jones (a star on the gridiron) is an elite perimeter defender that takes on the opponents best scorer each and every night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Sanford</strong> has consistently had three to four guys in double figures all season long and has been able to get a lot out of both <strong><em>[player_tooltip player_id='3456030' first='Dylan' last='Gendron']</em></strong> and <strong><em>Luke Gendron</em></strong>. A senior, Dylan has the ability to go off for 20+ points any time he takes the floor. He can score it from multiple levels, attacks the basket in transition, and can really get hot from behind the arc. Only a sophomore, Luke has taken huge strides with his game this winter. He also is a big time shooter from behind the arc that has a knack for making timely plays on the defensive end of the floor. One more name to watch - <strong><em>Carter Giroux</em></strong>, who's coming off a big showing in the quarterfinals when he had 11 points in the win over <em>Bonny Eagle</em>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">#8 Scarborough vs. #5 Cheverus</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>How They Got Here:</em> <strong>Scarborough </strong>took care of <em>#9 Kennebunk</em> (50-44) in a preliminary round matchup, before pulling the upset of the tournament so far when they beat <em>#1 Windham</em> (two-time, defending state champions) in the quarterfinals, by the score of 66-62 in overtime. <strong>Cheverus </strong>had a bye into the quarterfinals, where they were able to take care of business against <em>#4 Thornton Academy</em>, winning that game 61-60.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Previous Matchup:</em> <strong>Scarborough</strong> and <strong>Cheverus</strong> met twice in the regular season - first on December 9th in Portland and then again on January 19th in Scarborough. The road team was victorious in each matchup, with Scarborough winning the first game by the score of 57-43, and Cheverus taking the second matchup, 58-51.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Players to Watch:</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Scarborough</strong> has one of the top scorers in the state in <strong><em>[player_tooltip player_id='2553812' first='Adam' last='Fitzgerald']</em></strong>. A senior, Fitzgerald is capable of scoring the basketball in a variety of ways and is averaging 18 points per game during their playoff run. <strong><em>Carter Blanche</em></strong> is another name to watch for the Red Storm, the lead guard sets the tone for his team in the half-court and knows how to create for others. Lastly, keep an eye on <strong><em>Layton Garriepy</em></strong>. The athletic forward has come up big on the defensive end of the floor all season long, but it was his offensive production (19 points) against Windham that helped Scarborough spring the upset.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Cheverus</strong> will seemingly go as far as their freshman sensation, <strong><em>[player_tooltip player_id='2938600' first='Khaelon' last='Watkins']</em></strong>, can carry them. The 6'3" wing has become known as the "20-20 Guy" within the state's borders and can take over games with his athleticism and two-way motor. He hasn't shied away from the spotlight yet, and I wouldn't expect him to now either. Cheverus also gets a lot of production out of 6'4" senior <strong><em>[player_tooltip player_id='2553806' first='Jameson' last='Fitzpatrick']</em></strong>. The big man gives them an anchor in the paint and is coming off of a quarterfinal game in which he had 15 points and pulled down 8 rebounds. With Watkins and Fitzpatrick, Cheverus has arguably the best 1-2 punch left in this region.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We'll have more coverage from the MPA State Tournament as the regional final matchups are decided in each of the state's classes.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->