Manny Hidalgo scores the winning basket with four seconds to play in battle of top-ranked Class AA teams.
PostedJanuary 7
UpdatedJanuary 8
Steve CraigPortland Press Herald
3 min read
1 of 9
South Portland’s Manny Hidalgo celebrates after making a shot with four seconds left to give the Red Riots a 55-54 win over Windham on Tuesday in Windham. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Heral
WINDHAM — You bet these teams want to play each other again.
Not just because Tuesday’s Class AA boys basketball game between the top-ranked teams came down to the wire, with South Portland High from the South handing defending state champion and North leader Windham its first loss, 55-54.
They want to play each other again because the only way that happens this season is if both reach the state championship game. Considering the teams’ recent successes and the current standings, it’s a likely scenario.
South Portland, the state champion in 2022 and 2023, is now 8-2 with six straight wins. Windham, now 8-1, had won 14 straight games, including the first state title in school history.
“I don’t know how likely it is for them, but I know we’re going to be there,” said South Portland senior guard Manny Hidalgo.
It’s not difficult to believe what the 5-foot-7 senior guard has to say. Hidalgo leads the Red Riots in scoring and rebounding. He led all scorers Tuesday with 25 points despite sitting multiple times because of foul trouble.
Hidalgo’s one-handed 10-foot floater over 6-4 Colin Janvrin with four seconds left provided the winning points. Hidalgo set up the shot when he drove past Conor Janvrin, who had tenaciously guarded him most of the game, absorbed a hip check in the process, and got to the lane before Windham’s help defense could collapse on him.
Asked how he got to his spot, Hidalgo shrugged.
“I’m just Manny. I just do it. I don’t know. I wanted to score and I wanted to win and I did it,” Hidalgo said.
Hidalgo scored all 12 of South Portland’s fourth-quarter points. The winning basket was the fifth time in the fourth quarter he put South Portland in front.
“I’m not that tall. I’ve got heart and bounce. So that’s what matters. It’s based off skill and just being strong.”
Windham, which missed five of six free throws in the final 51 seconds, still had a chance to win, but AJ Moody was stripped of the ball by South Portland guard Gabe Jackson as he looked to drive to the basket.
“Obviously you can’t let him score there, and I knew he was probably going to try to get to the rim, so I just made a risky gamble and it ended up working out for us,” Jackson said.
Windham raced to a 17-8 lead behind its transition game, led by Creighty Dickson finishes. But when the runouts stopped resulting in points, the Eagles struggled from the floor ,and Dickson, who scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half, never got much support. Colin Janvrin scored 11 off the bench, but the normally high-scoring tandem of Tyrie James and Moody was held to five and six points, respectively.
“Of course we’d like to see them again,” said Conor Janvrin, who scored six of his eight points in the fourth quarter. “It’s two great teams. It would be fun.”
Once South Portland tied the game at 17-17 early in the second quarter, it was nip-and-tuck the rest of the way,
” I don’t think Windham shot as well as they normally do. They missed some shots,” said South Portland coach Kevin Millington, who teaches at Windham. “And Manny is an incredible player and made some big shots for us. He’s very efficient and he makes a lot of creative shots. I always use the word electric, and part of that is his size. He does things that make you go, ‘Wow.’”
Both Millington and Windham coach Chad Pulkkinen, as coaches are wont to do, tried to put the brakes on hyping a potential state championship rematch. Both said what they do talk about with their team is trying to improve daily. If they are playing their best at the end of the season, then maybe championship opportunities can happen.
“For us, we’re going to embrace the loss and it’s only going to make us better,” said Pulkkinen, noting that a year ago, the Eagles were soundly beaten by Gorham after winning their first 10 games. Windham defeated Gorham in the state final. “Our goal wasn’t to go undefeated. Our goal is to play our best basketball. We know that’s still out there.
“We’ve only played nine games. We have a lot to get better at. We have a lot of time to get better.”
