Damon Martin scored 19 points to lead sixth-seeded Poland to a 68-63 win over No. 3 Lake Region in a Class B South boys basketball quarterfinal Monday afternoon at the Portland Expo.
The victory continued a turnaround for a program that won just three games in 2023-24 and four games in 2022-23.
“Honestly, if I was freshman and sophomore me and I was telling myself I’d be in the quarterfinals, I would never believe it,” said Martin, a senior. “Our guys have turned our program around completely and I’m very proud.”
Poland which lost twice to the Lakers twice during the regular season, avenged a defeat against Lake Region in last year’s preliminary round.
The Knights trailed 28-24 at halftime.
“We made a defensive adjustment in the second half and came out and did something different that we haven’t done in our prior games with (Lake Region), so I think that may have thrown them a little bit. … Once we got a couple of stops, the boys started believing that we could get another one,” Poland coach Jason Knight said.
Sophomore Jake Jamo and junior Nick Jamo were Poland’s other double-figure scorers, tallying 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Sophomore Jacoby Bardsley paced Lake Region with 15 points.