LEWISTON — Brady Adams’ big game paced Sanford to a 60-32 Class AA boys basketball road victory over Lewiston on Saturday.
Adams scored 27 points, and the Spartans overcame a slow start to win their third game this week.
“My shots felt good, and the game was just flowing well,” Adams said. “This whole week the ball movement’s been better, we’ve been winning more because of it.
“I feel like we really found our flow.”
The Spartans also beat Edward Little on Tuesday and Noble on Thursday.
Sanford (4-2) scored only eight points in the first quarter and 17 in the first half. Head coach Jake Mills said the Spartans’ busy schedule might have played a part in Saturday’s slow start, especially with morning bus ride to Lewiston that was an hour and 2o minutes long.
“The win felt good,” Mills said. “It’s our third game in five days so it’s been a long week. The first half was rough, and I know I’m tired and I know the kids are tired, so just being able to grind one out there at the end was good.”
Tanner McCann, Adams and Dylan Gendron all put points on the board for the Spartans in the first quarter, while Lewiston was limited to two free throws by Deion Jackson.
The second quarter was evenly matched between, the Blue Devils (0-5) scoring 10 points and Sanford putting up nine. Caden Boone lit up the crowd and sparked the Lewiston offense with a 3-pointer in the period.
Blue Devils coach Elgin Physic said he thought Lewiston had “some decent defense” in the first half even though they had trouble scoring.
In the second half, the scoring issues persisted and were compounded when the Blue Devils started turning the ball over.
“We’ve just been struggling to score,” Physic said. “Usually, we haven’t given up that many points, but I think they’re a very good, disciplined team, they had good stuff offensively, and just coupled with a lot of the mistakes that we made, is basically how we got that result.”
The Spartans were only up by five points, 17-12, heading into halftime. Led by Adams, they pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring Lewiston 22-10 to push their lead to 29-22.
Adams, a junior, scored 12 of his 27 points in the third.
He said he likes to mix up the type of shots he takes, not really specializing in one area or skill. Mills agreed with that, adding this is Adams’ first year as a starter, and he continues to get better.
“He can shoot the ball really well, but he also can really stuff at the rim,” Mills said. “He’s an all-around compete player. Defensively he plays very well, he can shoot, he can get to the rim, he can knock down free throws and he can score at all three levels.”
In the third quarter, Adams made a pair of two-point field goals, two 3-pointers and both of his free throw attempts.
While Adams was Sanford’s high scorer Saturday, Mills said the entire offense has been working on better ball movement and not taking every 3-pointer available.
“Our first game we shot way too many 3s, we shot 31 threes, and there was just a lack of ball movement,” Mills said. “We were just taking the first open looks. Ever since that first game, now just finishing our sixth game, we’ve really been focusing on ball movement, getting great shots and not just the first open look. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into that.”
Lewiston, meanwhile, matched its second quarter total in the third, with 10 points.
Physic encouraged the entire team during a third quarter timeout, reminding the team that the Spartans aren’t necessarily a better team than Lewiston, they were just outworking the Blue Devils.
“This is just a young team that’s still trying to learn and mature and find ourselves,” Physic said. “A lot of it is we’re playing a lot of kids who practice with us but they play a lot as JV players, so again we’re trying to learn from our mistakes, and we do make a lot.”
Physic also said Lewiston lost two key players from last year’s team: Yusuf Dakane, who moved to Pomfret Prep School in Connecticut for his senior season, and Eli Bigelow, who is now a freshman forward at Central Maine Community College.
The Spartans led by 17 after three quarters and only increased their lead throughout the fourth.
“I think we really all just have got to be together on the same page at one time,” Physic said. “I think, again, with the lack of experience, you have three guys on the same page and two aren’t, and then vice versa. To win a game, we’re all going to have to be on the same page at the same time.”
Sanford’s AJ Anderson, Dominic Veino, Adams and Makai Bougie all put points on the board in the fourth quarter. Additionally, Ben Terril sank a 3-pointer in the final five seconds to cap the win for the Spartans and kick off their 11-day break from games for the holidays.
The Blue Devils chipped in their third straight quarter of 10 points scored to make a final score of 60-32.
“We’re just going to keep trying to be the best that we can, and we’re just going to keep working hard,” Physic said.
Sanford will face Bonny Eagle on Jan. 2 at home for their next game and Lewiston will travel to Deering on Thursday.
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