POLAND — Poland Regional High School was sweating style points and fretting about fine-tuning issues Wednesday night.
And that’s all you need to know about how far the Knights have progressed as a boys’ basketball program.
Locked in a knock-down, drag-out with its neighbor for much of the first half, Poland punched the accelerator and peeled away from Gray-New Gloucester, 86-54.
“We didn’t play our best defensive game,” Poland senior Jake Littlefield said.
When you’re scoring at a clip reminiscent of the 1970s while shooting 56 percent from the field, however, any lapses look a lot more forgivable.
Ricky Bryant paced Poland (5-2) with a relatively quiet 22 points.
Quiet only because the all-around dominance of classmates Littlefield and Logan Nichols was so in-your-face.
Nichols notched 21 points and 12 assists. Littlefield weaved together 17 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots. They combined for six of Poland’s eight 3-pointers.
“Last year we relied a lot on Jake,” Nichols said. “This year we’re getting it from everyone.”
Nate Rybeck drained two 3-pointers in the first half and finished with eight points for the Knights. Drew Peterson and C.J. Martin each added six.
Poland never trailed after Littlefield and Nichols scored the first two baskets, although Gray-New Gloucester (1-5) lurked within three points into the final minute of the half.
“It was sloppy at times,” Poland coach Tyler Tracy said. “The first half there were too many breakdowns.”
But the Knights’ ball distribution caused just as many missteps by the Patriots.
Peterson located Rybeck for a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left in the half. Nichols spun the ball to an open Littlefield for another trey with two ticks to go.
That mini-run made it a 41-32 halftime edge.
“The way both teams were shooting at that point, a couple of baskets the other way in the first three minutes of the third quarter and it could have been a much different game,” Tracy said.
Instead, the Knights buckled down, containing the Patriots to 4-for-19 efficiency in the period.
Littlefield continued his onslaught with another 3-pointer.
Jed Quint’s putback with 4:52 remaining in the third made it a double-digit lead for good.
Nichols knocked down 12 of his 21 points in the fourth, when Poland was a sweltering 11-for-15 from the floor.
“We’ve been a second-half team all season,” Nichols said. “Tonight was no different.”
Gray-NG started four sophomores and one upperclassman. The youngsters’ collective shooting and lone senior Jean Sedjro’s offensive boardwork gave Poland fits.
Austen Keenan canned 19 points, including five of the Patriots’ 10 3-pointers.
“They scored way too many points,” Nichols said.
Sedjro added 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Keenan collected 14 points in the first half — all but two from beyond the arc — to give the Patriots a puncher’s chance.
“They impressed me,” Tracy said. “They were tough. They’re young, but they just kept scrapping and playing hard.”
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