WINSLOW — The Winslow High School boys basketball team had seen Medomak Valley earn a few come from behind wins this season. So while the Black Raiders led by as much as 20 points in the third quarter, they reminded themselves that the Panthers could make a run.
“They’re a good third quarter team. We pride ourselves on being a great third quarter team and a better fourth quarter team,” Winslow head coach Jared Browne said. “I thought we executed that tonight.”
Photo Gallery
While the Panthers were able to cut Winslow’s lead to 11 points early in the fourth quarter, Winslow pulled away with a 62-45 win at Mansfield Gym. In a game between the top two teams in the Eastern Class B Heal Point standings, Winslow, now 9-0, established itself as the team to beat in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B division.
“This is the biggest game of the year so far,” Winslow senior forward Justin Martin said. “This is the best team we’ve played so far. They just play great together.”
As usual, the Black Raiders made a lot of 3-pointers — nine — but this game was won on the defensive end of the court. Winslow’s defensive game plan revolved around containing Medomak Valley (7-2) standout guard Nicholas DePatsy. The Panthers love to use DePatsy in pick and roll situations, but from the beginning of the game, Winslow had that sniffed out.
“We defended to the point where they couldn’t even get into the first pick and roll,” Browne said. “When DePatsy got his touches, we were going to double him and triple him sometimes.”
Martin started the game as the primary defender on DePatsy, but when he picked up two early fouls, Trenton Bouchard and Josh Kervin picked up the job.
“They did a hell of a job guarding DePatsy,” Martin, who scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, said.
DePatsy finished the game with a team-high 16 points, but none in the first quarter as the Black Raiders built a 13-6 lead.
“Trenton Bouchard off the bench was huge. Trenton came in an shut (DePatsy) down, I thought. Not only shut him down, but played him really tough,” Browne said.
Winslow got out to a good start, with Nason Lanphier (16 points) and Colby Robertson (19 points) combining for three 3-pointers in the first quarter, and two more in the second to help the Black Raiders take a 30-23 lead into the half. The backcourt duo combined for three more 3-pointers in the third quarter, and a Robertson three with 2:40 left in the third pushed Winslow’s lead to 48-28.
“We had some good kickouts. We got the ball inside-out pretty well,” Browne said. “We talked at halftime, to not let our guard down.”
Added Martin: “We didn’t play the greatest offensively in the first half, but our defense played well. Our offense stepped up in the second half.”
A Cameron Allaire (10 points) basket for Medomak with 6:37 left in the game cut Winslow’s lead to 49-38, but Winslow went on an 11-0 run and led 60-38 with 2:44 to play.
The Black Raiders outrebounded the Panthers, 41-29. Kervin had seven rebounds and four steals for Winslow, while Bouchard added six rebounds. Bobby Chenard had four offensive boards for the Black Raiders, and Justin Burgher had eight rebounds.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story