Westbrook ended a five-game losing streak Tuesday night with a 42-38 win over Portland. It also moved the Blue Blazes up two spots in the Heal point standings and closer to qualifying for the Western Class A tournament.

Eleven teams make the tournament and the Blazes (5-8) were right on that number before the game.

“That was a big win for us,” said Coach Mark Karter. “Clearly the best win of the season. Anytime you get a quality win, it’s going to help you. I think we caught Portland at the right time. They had an emotional win the night before.”

Westbrook has five games remaining, beginning tonight at home against Massabesic (1-12). The Blazes play at Thornton Academy (9-4) next Tuesday, followed by Windham and Bonny Eagle at home, before finishing the regular season at Gorham.

Thornton and Bonny Eagle would be worth a lot of Heal points, just like Portland, if the Blazes could prevail.

Even though the Blazes only had one returning starter, Karter was hopeful the team would come together sooner. He’s hoping the win over Portland has put them on the right track.

“We’ve been really inconsistent and have struggled to score, but we hit some big shots against Portland,” said Karter. “If we can get some consistent play and limit our turnovers, I feel we can compete with a lot of teams. But we’re certainly not good enough to look past anyone.”

Keenan Lowe hit two 3-pointers in the final 1:40 to spark the Blazes against Portland, which shot poorly.

The Bulldogs might have expended all their energy in a 40-39 win at Cheverus the night before. The Bulldogs shot 2 of 15 from 3-point range and 17 of 51 on 2-pointers.

D.J. Breunig scored 16 points for Westbrook.

“Westbrook is a tall team and they play a very active zone,” said Portland Coach Joe Russo. “They’ve played a lot of teams tough.”

The Blazes like to use different combinations of players.

“It all depends on the style we’re looking to play,” said Karter.

And matchups. Some teams match up better than others.

The Blazes’ current starting lineup has Joe Quinlan and Zach Bean at guards, Nguot Nguot, Alec Hazlewood and Breunig up front. Lowe, Ian King, Matt Moody and Aaron Duncanson come off the bench.

“There’s a lot of parity in the SMAA, especially at the lower end,” said Karter. “There’s going to be a lot of movement in the Heal standings the rest of the way.”

THINK THERE’S parity in Western Class A? There’s even more in Eastern Class A, says a KVAC coach.

“Hampden Academy is a shade better than anyone else,” said Brunswick Coach Todd Hanson. “The 2 through 7 teams are about the same. You could put them all in a hat, draw one out and that team would be as good as the others.

“Edward Little is ranked seventh and they’re capable of beating anyone. The parity level is incredible. It’s the most I’ve seen in 16 years as a head coach. The final tournament seeding won’t matter.”

The Red Eddies and Dragons play tonight at Brunswick.

The sixth-ranked Dragons (9-4) got their biggest win of the season Tuesday night, 56-54 against No. 2 Lawrence.

Brunswick erased a five-point deficit in the final 30 seconds. The Dragons scored off an inbounds play. Lawrence missed two free throws and Mitch Black hit a long 3-pointer to send it into overtime.

Garrett Erb then hit a pair of free throws in overtime to clinch it.

HOW MANY high school teams in the state have a play named after an NBA great? There’s at least one — Portland. The Bulldogs have a Havlicek play named for the Boston Celtics’ Hall of Famer, John Havlicek.

“I’ve had the play since I became the head coach at Portland 22 years ago,” said Russo, who admitted that Havlicek was his all-time favorite player.

For those of Russo’s age and older, it’s safe to say that Havlicek might be the favorite player of many New England basketball fans who followed the Celtics and the play-by-play of the late Johnny Most.

Havlicek played for the Celtics from 1962-78. He is the Celtics’ all-time leading scorer with 26,395 points, which ranks sixth all-time in the NBA.

Havlicek played on eight NBA championship teams.

“My players have never heard of John Havlicek. I have to tell them,” said Russo.

Russo said “Havlicek” is an out-of-bounds play. One would think that the other SMAA teams would be pretty familiar with the play by now. Maybe so, but it’s still effective.

“It’s simple but it works,” said Russo.

Staff Writer Tom Chard can be contacted at 791-6419 or at:

tchard@pressherald.com

Twitter: TomChardPPH

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