AUGUSTA — The Forest Hills boys basketball team is the No. 1 seed in the Class D South tournament.
Saturday afternoon, the Tigers showed why they are the team to beat in the region after trouncing No. 8 Seacoast Christian 85-33 in a quarterfinal game at the Augusta Civic Center.
The Tigers (19-0) will next meet No. 5 Greenville in the semifinals Wednesday. The Guardians finished 3-16.
Forest Hills had a little extra motivation Saturday — after all, it was Seacoast Christian that knocked it out of the playoffs last season (a 78-67 decision in the quarterfinals).
“You’ve got to remember, we haven’t won (in Augusta) in a couple of years,” Forest Hills head coach Anthony Amero said. “This group has had tough luck with injuries and different things. Today’s focus was just Game 1. One game a time, we’re not taking anything for granted. Because we’ve been through that too many times… (last year’s result) I think helped with the motivation, and they just came out ready to play.”
Forest Hills shot the proverbial lights out. The Tigers nailed 10 3-pointers in the contest. It jumped out to a 15-0 lead within the first five minutes. By the end of the first quarter, the lead ballooned to 22-2.
“We take a lot of pride in 3-pointers,” Senior forward Brandon Gilboe said. “We shoot more, and it just goes in.”
That lead swelled to 48-16 by halftime, thanks largely in part to senior forward Jakob Rivas, who slashed his way through the Seacoast Christian defense to score 13 of his 17 points in the first half.
“We were focusing in, trying not to reach (and commit fouls defensively),” Gilboe said. “Seacoast played their game, they played us hard. They took it to us, and we got into foul trouble. We went in to halftime. Amero is saying ‘Don’t reach, don’t reach, focus on (not committing fouls)’ and off we went.”
The Tigers maintained focus in the second half — despite the lopsided score. Forest Hills went on another 15-0 run in the third quarter. Gilboe scored 10 of his game-high 18 points in the second half alone.
“He comes from a long line of good Gilboe players,” Amero said “They’ve all had good luck (in Augusta), a good tournament here. We’re excited for him in his senior year. He’s fired up and laying it all out there. He’s a really good kid and he’s worked hard to get (here).”
Guard Mason Desjardins came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers. He finished with 11 points. Parker Desjardins rounded out the scoring with 17 points, while Hunter Cuddy added 14.
Kobe Jex led Seacoast Christian with nine points, while Brandon Vachon added eight.
NOTES: Parker Desjardins hit three 3-pointers Saturday, giving him 57 for the year. Desjardins has a chance to break the school record of 66 3-pointers in a season, held by Jeff Mulhall.
Dave Dyer – 621-5640
Twitter: @Dave_Dyer
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