Hollis Brookline's Alton Williams, left, and J.P. Torgerson are frustrated on the bench during the final minute of Friday night's Division II quarterfinal loss to Sanborn in Kingston. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

KINGSTON – They were beaten at their own game.

If you’re a Hollis Brookline High School boys basketball fan, you were probably feeling pretty good, up 47-35 after a Dylan Kelly layup with 4:53 left in the third quarter of Friday night’s Division II quarterfinal game at No. 3 Sanborn.

In fact, one couldn’t have blamed you if you were already Googling directions on your phone to the Rochester Recreation Center for Monday’s semifinals.

Instead, it will be the Indians and their fans making that trip to face No. 7 Oyster River after one of the season’s most incredible turnarounds. The usually energized Cavaliers managed just eight points the rest of the way as Sanborn prevailed by a whopping 73-55, a 17-3 run giving the hosts a 52-50 lead into the final quarter, which they then simply dominated.

Yikes. What the heck happened? It was as if the teams switched uniforms, as the energy the visitors had transferred to the team in home white jerseys.

“I think it was just a combination of everything at the wrong time,” said Cavs coach Ryan Kelley, who still has to consider the season a big success going from four wins to a 15-5 record and just over 12 minutes away from a trip to the Final Four. “All credit to Sanborn. They definitely flipped the switch on their energy, and applied more pressure against us on their defensive side.

“But more importantly, they’re offensive intensity skyrocket, and our defensive rotations seemed to stop. We gave them layup after layup. It’s one thing if they got hot from shooting, but we gave them layups.”

Many were by Indians seniors Dylan Rego (game high 28 points) and Chase Frizell (25). Before all that happened, the Cavs were doing their thing, scoring in transition and being their aggressive selves at both ends of the court. HB’s 6-6 junior Alton Williams had 18 of his team-high 23 points in the first half. The seemingly gassed Indians’ sagging body language spelled defeat; a 38-33 halftime HB lead turned into double digits.

At that point, Sanborn coach Wayne Souther had seen enough.

“I told them ‘What (the Cavs) are doing right now is nothing special; they’re outworking us,'” Souther said he told his players. “That’s what they’re doing. So if we want this game, we have to go bring it double. We have to outwork them double right now because we’re the team down.’

“They didn’t get down on themselves. We’ve been in this position before and they brought it. They responded to my words and they brought it.”

Souther credited his seniors but in reality the player who changed Sanborn’s pace the most was sophomore guard Jesse Cavallo. He was languishing on the bench for most of the first half in foul trouble, but once he found his bearings in the third his energy at both ends of the floor just spread through his team like wildfire. His six points seemed like 36.

“He’s a game changer,” Souther said. “In the fourth quarter, he went for a blocked shot and got his fourth (foul), but I can’t take the kid out of the game, I just can’t. He came in and provided a lot of that energy that we needed. It was like there were three of him out there tonight.”

His feed to Rego for a layup with 23 seconds left in the third quarter gave Sanborn that 52-50 lead, one they would never relinquish. The Indians went on a 10-0 run to the start the fourth and the Cavs didn’t end a scoreless streak of 5:54 spanning both quarters until J Arthur hit a trey with 3:37 left that made it 62-53. But they would only get two points the rest of the way as the Indians’ transition layup game continued off turnovers.

Sanborn’s Ryan Hardy (10) and Dylan Rego make life tough for Hollis Brookline’s Alton Williams during Friday night’s Division II quarterfinals in Kingston. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Sanborn’s Ryan Hardy (10) and Dylan Rego make life tough for Hollis Brookline’s Alton Williams during Friday night’s Division II quarterfinals in Kingston. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

“When we play good defense, it turns into points for us,” Souther said. “And then just searching for the best shot. These are big games, kids are nervous, we need to search for layups.”

Well, they sure found them.

“Sometimes you get a little fatigued, the energy drop happens, the other team amps it up and you just can’t keep up,” Kelley said. “Maybe it was the home court, the energy here was fantastic. … That might have been enough just to tip the scales.”

Kelley had 14 and Yarie Ramas nine for HB. After the shock wears off, the Cavs and their coach will soon look back and realize just how far they come. Kelley was counting on a three-year rebuild, but some seniors who hadn’t played his first year returned to the program.

“Our acceleration, our timeline, was absolutely ahead of schedule,” he said. “I can’t be more proud of this group.”

But he’ll still look at the film to find out how an energy level could be flipped so quickly.