KITTERY, Maine — With the realization it would take a huge fourth quarter for his team to secure a home tournament game, Traip Academy sophomore guard Will Stuart was up for the challenge.

Old Orchard Beach controlled throughout in carrying a 51-40 lead into the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s game. But a 3-pointer by Stuart to begin the fourth began a memorable ending to the regular season for the Rangers.

Stuart scored 16 of his game-high 28 points and added four steals during Traip’s 22-8 final frame, and the Rangers clinched a first-round home game in the Class C South boys basketball tournament with a 62-59 victory over the Seagulls.

“During halftime, Coach was telling us that we hadn’t been playing well the whole game, but we used that as motivation in the second half,” Stuart said. “That was the best game all year. Just the fact that we were down the whole game and we waited until the fourth quarter; it felt good to get that lead and keep it.”

Traip (9-9) won’t have to look past Tuesday’s film to prepare for its tournament opponent. The seventh-seeded Rangers will likely host No. 10 Old Orchard Beach (8-9) in next Wednesday’s rubber match; Old Orchard Beach concludes its regular season on Thursday at Class B Sacopee Valley.

“We kind of slept-walked through three (quarters); luckily we made enough plays to stay close,” Traip coach Jeremy Paul said. “In the fourth quarter, I think they decided to take their defense more seriously. We got some stops, got in transition and got some momentum going.”

Old Orchard Beach built its biggest lead of the night (51-35), but Traip senior guard Charlie Driscoll (15 points) capped off his 10-point third quarter with a 3-pointer and a transition hoop to bring the Rangers within 51-40 entering the fourth.

Mike Davis (13 points) gave the Seagulls a 55-45 lead early in the quarter, when Stuart decided to take over at both ends of floor. Stuart sank a three-pointer, hit a pair of free throws and converted a 3-point play off an Edoardo Spinoglio steal midway through the fourth to bring Traip within 55-53.

After Stuart converted a steal to tie the game, Ian Regan (14 points) drained a 3-pointer, but Stuart countered with his own trey to tie the game at 58-58.

“I just need to hit one shot to get going, and then I just get hot," Stuart said. "And then we just built off that and everyone got hot. I didn’t have the feeling that it was going to happen, but I just knew it had to happen.”

Old Orchard Beach turned the ball over on its ensuing possession, which led to Driscoll breaking the press and finding Spinoglio to give Traip a 60-58 lead with 50 seconds left. Stuart then came up with a steal that led to a pair of Driscoll free throws with 10 seconds remaining.

“It was probably (Stuart’s) best complete quarter offensively and defensively. It was big; we needed it,” Paul said. “If we can get him to shy away from taking away the pass from the outside and take away more in the middle ... he gets more of those steals if he’s in the right spot."

Regan clanked a desperation mid-court shot of the rim as the final buzzer sounded.

“We anticipated them making a run or two,” Old Orchard beach coach Mike Burke said. “Too many empty trips and bad possessions is not a recipe for success.”

Driscoll, Andrew Davis, Spinoglio, Dalan Hubbard and Pablo Lopez Zapata were honored before the game in Senior Night festivities. The fourth quarter allowed one more game for them on their home court.

“Around the third or fourth quarter, we started to get more hyped, Will started hitting shots and we made stops on defense; that was the big key,” Driscoll said. “We have another game here, and the crowd tonight got us hyped tonight. And there'll be more people here next game.”

RANGERS 62, SEAGULLS 59

OLD ORCHARD BEACH (59)

Davis 6-1-13, Regan 5-0-14, Allen 3-0-6, Hogan 2-0-4, C. Blanchette 0-0-0, Lord 4-3-11, LaPlante 1-2-4, McCullum 1-0-3, Pratt 1-0-2, P. Blanchette 1-0-2, Crockett 0-0-0, Michaud 0-0-0. Totals: 24-6-59.

RANGERS (62)

Davis 1-1-3, Spinolio 3-0-6, Hubbard 4-0-8, Driscoll 5-2-15, Stuart 10-4-28, Lacey 1-0-2, Lopez Zapata 0-0-0, Brown 0-0-0. Totals: 24-7-62.

Old Orchard Beach 16 19 16 8—59

Traip 10 17 13 22—62

3-Point Goals—Old Orchard Beach 5 (Regan 4, McCullum), Traip 7 (Stuart 4, Driscoll 3).