Old Saybrook — No one would have blamed the boys’ basketball players at Old Lyme for being a little anxious Tuesday night. Picture it: league tournament semifinals on your blood rival’s court, big crowd, dueling student sections.

And then the game started.

And then the scoreboard, at various moments, read, “Old Lyme 17, Old Saybrook 2,” “Old Lyme 24, Old Saybrook 6,” and you get the idea.

The Wildcats (16-6) were about perfect, advancing to the Shoreline Conference championship game with a 62-45 win. They’ll play league regular season champion Cromwell Friday night, a year removed from a bitter overtime loss to Valley Regional in the title game.

“I was still stressing, even at the end,” Old Lyme coach Kirk Kaczor said, despite a lead that hit as many as 24. “I know Old Saybrook is good. I kept looking at the clock thinking, ‘Is this really happening?’”

Such things are inclined to happen a little easier, perhaps, when the league Player of the Year is on your team. That’s Old Lyme’s Drake Gavin, who was named Shoreline Player of the Year over the weekend. He responded with 33 points, all to the chants of “MVP! MVP!” from the delirious (and large) Old Lyme student section.

“It felt great to hear that,” Gavin said, “but it feels even better to go back to the championship game.”

Gavin made consecutive 3-point field goals in the fourth period and followed those with a 3-point play — nine straight points — that gave Old Lyme a 60-36 lead.

“He’s been just fantastic in this program,” Kaczor said.

“He’s good,” Old Saybrook coach Tim Arsenault said. “A very, very good player. And he’s really tough at the top of their zone. We’d like to have thrown it inside more, but it wasn’t so easy with his length.”

Dean Palenski had 20 for the Wildcats. Palenski’s 3-point pay midway through the third period gave Old Lyme its first lead in excess of 20 points.

Connel Henderson’s 3-pointer at the third-period buzzer got the Rams within 16 at 48-32. They got no closer. Vin Baker led Old Saybrook with 15 points.

Baker’s buzzer beater in the tournament quarters gave Old Saybrook a win over Hyde and some momentum. Or so Arsenault thought.

“I thought that would get use going, especially because we practiced well the last few days,” he said. “I was shocked when we were down 17-2. It never really got better because we just couldn’t make shots.”

m.dimauro@theday.com

Twitter: @BCgenius