AUGUSTA — Though it’s often broken down into matchups, offensive sets, defensive philosophies, front courts and back courts, basketball always boils down to one essential factor.
Baskets. And the Forest Hills boys make a lot of them.
The top-seeded Tigers claimed their fourth regional championship in eight years Saturday afternoon, pulling away behind tournament MVP Brandon Gilboe and the outside touch of sophomore guard Parker Desjardins for a 69-47 win over No. 2 Temple Academy in the Class D South final at the Augusta Civic Center.
Gilboe scored 19 of his 26 points in the half, and Desjardins got 17 of his 20 points in the second half.
Forest Hills (21-0) will face Schenck next Saturday at Cross Insurance Arena in Bangor.
Forest Hills won state titles in 2013 and 2015 and was the runner-up in 2012, but hadn’t advanced past the quarterfinals since 2015.
“It’s done,” Gilboe said. “I feel like I finally finished what my brothers started, but there’s one more thing that I want that they don’t have, and that’s the Gold Ball.”
Desjardins, who estimates he takes 500 practice shots a day, helped Forest Hills pull away from a Bereans squad that matched the Tigers’ pace and intensity for most of the afternoon.
Temple (15-6) got as close as 10 midway through the third quarter, when an Oscar Camarena 3-pointer cut the Forest Hills lead to 44-34. Desjardins, though, answered with three 3-pointers as part of an 11-0 run over a span of 3:35 overlapping the third and fourth quarters.
That surge was of particular satisfaction to Desjardins, who missed the entire second half of his freshman season after breaking his foot.
“This means a lot. You can’t take anything for granted,” Desjardins said. “In the first half, they guarded me a little tighter and I missed a couple of 3-pointers, so they got off me a little bit. In the second half, I got open and I connected on them.”
Forest Hills shot 51 percent from the field.
“Credit to our kids. I take no credit for it, we have no magical practice plan,” Forest Hills Coach Anthony Amero said. “It’s just the old adage that players are made in the summertime. They get after it.
“Our kids just take a lot of shots. There’s not a lot to do in Jackman in the wintertime, unless you like to snowmobile. The kids just find time to shoot and shoot and shoot, year-round. They just love basketball. They’ll play outside a lot in the offseason in the town park. … I tell them to go outside and shoot as much as you can out in the outdoors in the big open space. They’ve got beautiful Big Wood Lake behind it, so it’s a great scenic place to shoot, and they do. They go down and shoot a lot of shots.”
Temple made just 25.8 percent of its shots. During the second-half run highlighted by Desjardins, the Bereans went 0 for 11 — including back-to-back possessions that produced three shots and four shots, respectively.
It wasn’t the only time Temple failed to cash in on its size advantage in the post.
Despite being generously listed at 5-foot-11, Gilboe was a force inside, particularly in the first half.
“He’s amazing,” Desjardins said of Gilboe. “He just works. He works so hard.”
“They’re a very good team,” Gilboe said of Temple. “They’re a lot taller than us. We were just at a disadvantage of height and strength. … I play a lot of summer ball, and when you play a lot of summer ball, you’re facing a lot of 6-6 (guys) and above. So today, 6-2, 6-3 (for Temple), I want it. I want that challenge.”
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