BOOTHBAY HARBOR — There was no miracle near-comeback for Winthrop this time. Boothbay learned a lesson and didn’t let off the accelerator after its first-quarter run, either.
The Seahawks consequently completed an MVC regular-season boys’ basketball sweep of the Ramblers in resounding fashion Friday night, 64-44, and locked up the No. 1 seed in the Class C West tournament.
Boothbay (16-2) gave away most of a huge lead of the closing minutes of its January visit to Winthrop (15-3), but the Ramblers couldn’t summon anything resembling a rally in a sometimes unsightly rematch between two state title hopefuls, played at a breakneck pace.
“We just wanted to get in their heads early,” Boothbay senior Evan Hepburn said. “The first time we played them, we had a 16-2 run.”
It was a 14-0 flourish not long after the opening tap that kept the home crowd howling on Senior Night, and subsequent, separate spurts of eight, eight and nine points steadily expanded that lead.
Hepburn led all scorers with 20 points. Jacob Leonard and Julian Aponte each added 10 for Boothbay.
The Seahawks consistently got to the rim for uncontested layups and denied the Ramblers that same privilege from start to finish.
Boothbay overcame 34 turnovers with 26-for-45 (58 percent) shooting. Winthrop went 11-for-39 (28 percent), gave it away 31 times, and complicated matters by missing six of its first seven free throws.
Ben Allen and Anthony Owens paced Winthrop with seven points apiece. Nick Schlosser chipped in six on the strength of two 3-pointers after Ramblers’ coach Todd MacArthur pulled his starters with 6:30 remaining in the fourth.
“I thought we rebounded well, played well, got out in front of their shooters pretty well. We kept (point guard Taylor) Morang out of the paint most of the game,” Boothbay coach I.J. Pinkham said. “I knew they were going to try to go to the corner and into the post, and the kids did a pretty good job taking that away.”
Pinkham went away from his man-to-man tendencies and played zone from the opening tap against Winthrop for the second consecutive game.
Owens scored inside and Allen nailed a 3-pointer to give Winthrop a 5-2 lead in the first minute. The Ramblers wouldn’t score again until the 2:27 mark.
The Seahawks haven’t earned their keep as a 3-point shooting team this season, but Hepburn and Aponte each hit one to fuel the 14-0 surge. Leonard also picked up four points during the run.
Jacob Hickey’s 3-pointer highlighted a modest Winthrop response. Dakota Carter was fouled while attempting a desperation trey before the horn, but he knocked down only one of the three free throws.
It was 18-13 at that point.
Hepburn buried another shot from beyond arc to ignite Boothbay’s second stanza. Seven of the Seahawks’ eight points in the ensuing surge were his, with twin John Hepburn adding a free throw.
John Hepburn snagged 11 rebounds for Boothbay, which dominated the boards to the tune of 18-7 in the half and 34-21 overall.
If there’s a ray of light for Winthrop, Boothbay can provide it by confirming that good teams have bad nights. The Seahawks were coming off a double-digit loss Wednesday at Madison.
“It doesn’t seem like the same team I had the other night,” Pinkham said. “We were awful.”
The Ramblers trailed 37-22 at the half and couldn’t take advantage of a sluggish third quarter in which the Seahawks produced the same total of turnovers (eight) as points.
Nick Burge and Joseph DiMauro provided baskets off the bench to keep the lead at 47-28. Consecutive fastbreak buckets by Leonard off Aponte steals upped it to 54-28 with just over six minutes to go.
“We screwed up last game,” Evan Hepburn said. “We didn’t play like a team at Madison. Tonight we played like a team and kept the momentum up.”
koakes@sunjournal.com
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