FALMOUTH — Fresh off its third one-point loss of the season, the Falmouth boys’ basketball team avoided a similar fate Monday afternoon as it pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat South Portland, 63-52.
Thomas Coyne scored 24 points and had eight assists to spark the Yachtsmen (9-3), one the top teams in Class A South. Falmouth put together a 10-3 run in the fourth quarter to stretch its lead to 56-43.
“We’ve had a rocky road the last few games, but I think we’ve got the wheels back on the bus and we’ll be playing well from here on out,” Falmouth Coach Dave Halligan said.
The Yachtsmen are ranked second in Class A South despite a 44-43 loss Friday against Class C Waynflete on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“We’ve had three tough losses by one point at the buzzer, so it was good to bounce back,” Coyne said. “I think we’re a pretty battle-tested team, so it was good to come back against a good team.”
Facing the only Class AA opponent on its schedule, Falmouth looked in control when it started the second quarter with a 17-3 run for a 23-13 lead.
“They played with more intensity than we did,” South Portland Coach Kevin Millington said. “They were quicker to the ball. They pressured us out front and we just didn’t react well to it.”
The Yachtsmen forced South Portland to commit nine of their 19 turnovers during the second quarter.
“Defense has been the key for us all year,” Halligan said. “We’ve got some great offensive players, but the defense really makes us go. We get our offense off our defense. That sort of charges us up.”
Still, the Red Riots (8-4) stayed close.
Jack Fiorini, who finished with 10 points, scored two fast-break baskets in the final minute of the half to cut the deficit to 23-17.
Matt Pelletier got South Portland closer, sinking a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter to make it 40-38. Pelletier led the Riots with 13 points.
Coyne and his younger brother, Colin, each made a 3-pointer early in the fourth to help the Yachtsmen break it open.
“Basketball is a game of runs,” Thomas Coyne said. “We knew they were going to come back, but it was about us responding. We made some big plays when we needed to. We just played good defense down the stretch.”
Matt Wulbrecht scored 10 points in the second half for the Yachtsmen. Colin Coyne made 10-of-12 free throws and finished with 13 points.
Reserve forwards Jordin Jackson and Ruay Bol each scored nine points for South Portland.
Falmouth is one of only two Class A opponents on South Portland’s schedule.
“Actually, both teams requested the game as part of the schedule,” Millington said.
“At the end of the day, you want to win the game. It’s a good Heal points game, but we’re (going to be) in the tournament and we’d rather play against good teams down the stretch because, win or lose, we think we’ll be more battle-tested come tournament time.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
