SACO — After three quarters of tight, up-and-down basketball, a good fourth-quarter run one way or another was always going to decide Friday night’s SMAA boys basketball encounter between Massabesic and Thornton Academy.
As they’ve done more often than not this season, it was the Golden Trojans who made it; and as they’ve done more often than not this season, it was the Mustangs who didn’t.
With Thornton leading 54-49 and 6:20 to play, the Trojans scored the next 12 points in a 2:24 span to break open what had been a tight contest the whole way en route to a 70-53 victory at Linnell Gymnasium.
Five different Trojans contributed to the decisive 12-0 spurt, as did three key Mustang turnovers that allowed Thornton (10-6) easy points in transition, a theme all night.
“We really got out to run and got some stops at key times,” said Thornton senior Quinn Richardson-Newton, who scored a game-high 22 points and played a key role down low defensively against a taller Mustangs squad. “We just came out and put our foot down.”
Massabesic had 18 total turnovers, 10 more than Thornton, and was gashed by the Trojans’ fast break, usually led by Richardson-Newton and fellow 6-foot, 4-inch teammate Kevin Barrett.
“Defensively they beat us in transition tonight,” Massabesic coach Ramone Jones said. “Their fours and fives out-ran our fours and fives, they got to the basket and made some layups. That was a big difference in the game tonight.”
The Mustangs (4-12) long-range shooting was the big difference early as they hit seven of their 11 field goal attempts in the first quarter ”“ including a blistering 5-6 from behind the arc ”“ to take a 19-13 lead after one.
“I figured they’d at least miss one or two and give us a break,” Richardson-Newton said. “We came out a little slow, it might have been the tiredness of the bodies, but they hit their shots early and made us chase them. They’re a lot better than a 4-12 team.”
Chase the Trojans did, using a 10-2 run ”“ including seven points from Reuben Moses ”“ in the middle part of the second quarter to take a 32-30 lead into the break.
The Mustangs had built their lead up to 25-17 as they hit their first three shots of the second quarter, but five Massabesic turnovers, coupled with a 2-13 shooting stretch to finish out the quarter, allowed Thornton back in.
“I thought the game kind of got away from us in the second quarter. We had a big lead and they got back into the game because we turned it over, made a couple of bad plays and they made a run,” Jones said. “We were up by eight or so, and they lead at the half and we’re chasing the game from there.”
Thornton extended the lead to 51-45 after an up-tempo third quarter, but when Caleb Campbell finished off a three-point play, Massabesic was within five with 6:20 left.
But that’s when the Trojans’ defense took over, stringing together multiple defensive stops as they held the Mustangs to just eight fourth-quarter points and made the game-deciding run.
“In the fourth quarter we finished the defensive possessions off,” Thornton coach Bob Davies said. “That has been a struggle for us this year, and that allowed us to get out and run and score some easy hoops.”
After hitting on all three of his 3-point attempts in the opening quarter, Dan Amabile finished with 16 points to lead Massabesic, while big-man Cale Thornton scored 14 and Noah Gerry eight.
In addition to Richardson-Newton’s 22, Kevin Barrett also had 16 for Thornton while Moses added 11, with none more crucial than the seven he scored when the game looked close to getting away from the Trojans in the second quarter.
“We dug ourselves a hole, and then we dug ourselves out of it. That’s a big positive,” Davies said. “The kids never quit playing, and that’s a good thing.”
— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.
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