ROCKLAND – The No. 4 Oceanside boys basketball team hosted No. 13 Foxcroft Academy Wednesday in an Eastern Class B prelim game with the Ponies riding home with a 55-45 win over the Mariners.

No. 13 Foxcroft Academy will advance to the Eastern Class B quarterfinals Saturday, Feb. 16 at 1:35 p.m. where they will face No. 5 Caribou who defeated No. 12 Hermon 47-43 tonight..  For Oceanside the Mariners finish the season 14-5 and are out of the playoffs.

The Ponies jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead and finished the first quarter up 13-9. In the second quarter the Mariners tied the score for the first time on a 3-pointer from Isaiah Stone-Patterson to make it 21-21. On the next possession the Ponies took the lead back on a basket from Kaleb Smith. The quarter ended up 25-21 Foxcroft as they headed for the locker rooms.

The third quarter was a low scoring affair with Oceanside outscoring the Ponies 10-9 for a 34-31 Foxcroft Academy lead heading into the final stanza. The Mariners took the lead for the first and only time at 2:46 in the third quarter on a foul shot from Shea Davenport to make it 30-29 Oceanside. Smith again regained the lead for Foxcroft Academy after making 2-of-3 foul shots to tie the score at 31-31 he knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Ponies the lead.

In the fourth quarter the Ponies would build a lead and the Mariners twice tied the score only to have Foxcroft take the knead back again. In the final 2:11 seconds Foxcroft outscore Oceanside 11-5 for the win.

Scoring for Foxcroft Academy was, Ryan Kebar with a game high 20 points; Hunter Smith 12; Kaleb Smith 10; Kelby Kendall six; Hunter Law four; Volodymyr Pyzhov two; and Caleb Richard one.

The Ponies were 14-of-30 from the foul line and they knocked down four 3-pointers, H. Smith (2), Kebar (1), and K. Smith (1).

For Oceanside, Shea Davenport had a team high 13 points; Sam Meklin 11; Hunter Grindle 10; Stone-Patterson eight; Matt Zable two; and Tyler Gilson one.

The Mariners were 5-of-11 from the foul line and the had six baskets from behind the arc, Meklin (3), Stone-Patterson (2), and Davenport (1).

For seniors Davenport, Gilson, Meklin and Zable this was not how the season was supposed to end. While they loose a lot of size, they become a younger, faster team with some outstanding talent.

Foxcroft should be a good match up for Medomak Valley. The Ponies like to slow it down and did a good job against Oceanside taking away the inside game and forcing the outside shots which the Mariners had a hard time knowing down tonight. The Panthers will need to have their outside shooting be on to play against the zone defense with the middle clogged up tight that Foxcroft Academy will throw at them.

Click here for the photo gallery from this game

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