No. 3 Orono used its defense on Wednesday afternoon to earn a 42-31 victory over No. 7 Presque Isle and advance to its second Class B North regional final in a row.
The Red Riots (17-3) held the Wildcats to their lowest point total of the season.
Orono will face the winner of No. 1 Ellsworth (19-0) and No. 4 Old Town (17-2) on Saturday.
Orono had a strong defensive game plan for Presque Isle’s Malachi Cummings, who after scoring 27 points in the Wildcats’ quarterfinal win over No. 2 Winslow, shot just 3-for-12 in the first half.
Presque Isle was able to muster just 11 points over the first two quarters and trailed Orono 21-11 after the first half.
In the third, four players scored for the Wildcats, who poured in 10 points and held Orono to eight in the frame.
Pierce Walston, who scored seven points to lead Orono in the first half, notched his third foul early in the third and was benched. Will Francis picked up the slack and hit two 3-pointers in the third and finished the game with 20 points to lead all scorers.
Francis continued his scoring in the fourth, earning an old-fashioned three-point play that gave the Red Riots a 32-23 lead just two minutes into the quarter.
Cummings scored eight points in the second half to finish with 15 points on 5-for-18 shooting.
