BANGOR – The Penquis boys basketball team showed its resiliency Friday night as the No. 2 Patriots struggled against No. 3 Washington Academy in an Eastern Maine Class C semifinal at the Bangor Auditorium.

Penquis of Milo’s scrappy man-to-man defense frustrated the Raiders of East Machias, and late free throws lifted the Patriots to a 41-35 victory over WA and a berth in tonight’s regional final.

“It was pretty rough, but we pulled through,” said senior Devin Perkins, who had a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds. “We made some big free throws and our defense pulled us through. That’s what we turn to, the defense.”

Penquis (18-2) will face No. 1 Dexter for the title after the Tigers beat No. 4 Madawaska 52-39 in the nightcap. Saturday’s game will begin at approximately 8:45 p.m.

The Raiders finished 16-4.

Penquis coach Tony Hamlin said that although the Patriots didn’t play their best ball Friday – it was probably the worst they’ve played in six weeks, he added – clutch free-throw shooting mitigated the disappointing offensive effort.

Penquis made nine of 11 free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter, including four shots by Justin Morrill in the last 17.7 seconds.

“Offensively we didn’t execute and I don’t know what it was,” Hamlin said. “One thing about this group, though, is they’re resilient. They got their play under control, they executed, tired [WA] out a little, and made plays down the stretch.”

Perkins hit three of his four attempts in the fourth, including two in a key swing midway through the quarter.

WA’s Sam Hostetter had just put back an offensive rebound to give the Raiders a 28-27 lead when Alex Creighton hit a 3-pointer from right of the key with 4:31 left. The Raiders grabbed the rebound and a Penquis foul gave Washington Academy a play from the sideline.

But the Raiders turned the ball over trying to inbound it, and Perkins got down the court for a layup and a 32-28 lead.

Two minutes and four fouls later, Perkins drew WA’s seventh team foul to get Penquis in the bonus. He hit both ends of the 1-and-1, and the Patriots went up six points.

Penquis went 6-for-8 from the line from there.

“Defense turned it around. We got that steal, I made the layup, Alex made that 3-pointer, Drew Hamlin had one [in the third quarter],” Perkins said. “Those things were turning points in the game.”

The relatively small Patriots had a tall order in keeping Raiders centers Hostetter (11 points, eight rebounds) and Jarred Sternbergh (three points, eight rebounds) from getting too many chances inside.

“We started the offense so high that we didn’t get the ball in into the position we needed to,” WA coach Chad Fitzsimmons said. “Once we started doing that, we had a hard time catching the ball inside. They played great defense. I’m disappointed we didn’t handle it better because I think we certainly could have.”

James Ramsdell led the Raiders with 14 points, including a 3-pointer with 3.7 seconds left.

The game was tied 11-11 at the end of the first quarter and 19-19 at halftime.

PATRIOTS 41, RAIDERS 35

Washington Acad. (16-4) Penquis (18-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Gray 0 3 0 0 0 N. Allen 2 4 7

Albee 1 1 0 0 2 J. Allen 2 11 1 4 6

Ja. Ramsdll 6 15 0 0 14 Hamlin 1 2 3

Hostetter 5 7 1 2 11 Creighton 1 3

Colbeth 0 0 0 0 0 Morrill 0 5 4

Sternbergh 1 6 1 3 3 Stevens 0 0 0

Je. Ramsdll 1 5 0 0 3 A. Zwicker 0 0

Von Rotz 0 2 2 2 2 Perkins 5 13 14

Carey 2 2 0 4

Totals 14 39 4 7 35 Totals 13 41 10 15 41

Washington Academy 11 19 26 35

Penquis 11 19 27 41

3-pt. goals – Washington Academy (3-12): Ja. Ramsdell 2-6, Je. Ramsdell 1-5, Gray 0-1; Penquis (5-15): N. Allen 1-2, J. Allen 1-2, Creighton 1-2, Hamlin 1-1, Perkins 1-6, Morrill 0-2