PORTLAND — The Westbrook boys basketball team cruised to a 53-32 win over Kennebunk in the Class A South quarterfinals on Saturday at the Portland Expo.
This was the third meeting between the two clubs this year, and the third Westbrook win.
The Rams jumped out to an 11-9 lead after one, but the Blue Blazes would turn the tables and take a 27-22 lead into the halftime break.
Westbrook never looked back as it outpaced the Rams 26-10 the rest of the way to bounce Kennebunk from the postseason.
The Westbrook defense stifled the Rams offense down the stretch, while Kennebunk was also plagued by penalties throughout the contest.
“Turnovers, I think we’re a young team. I think we were playing too fast for what the game wanted so (there was) constantly too much footwork. There was never a flow, (Westbrook is) a great defensive team. They led the league in team defense this year,” said Kennebunk coach Barrett Belanger after the loss.
The Rams came out firing in the early going, with Cam Lovejoy scoring 11 points in the opening 11 minutes of play. However, the Blue Blazes clamped down on the Kennebunk offense, and protected the inside post in dominant fashion.
“When every offensive possession is a grind it wears on you. We worked really hard in the first half to try to constantly get looks … but working that hard, there was never any smooth transition, there were never really any easy shots, there were never easy looks down low,” said Belanger.
Kennebunk expected Westbrook to want to slow down the pace of the game, which may have caused the Rams to be a little too hesitant down the stretch, according to Belanger.
“We talked about being patient — we knew that they weren’t going to try to play for the 60s, they wanted to play 50s, 40s. We wanted to get it in low and we passed up some shots,” said Belanger. “I think if we played a little bit more loose and taken those shots it would have gotten a flow going and changed things but we stuck to our gameplan.”
Lovejoy led Kennebunk with a game-high 19 points while Kyle Pasieniuk and Max Murray each chipped in four.
Zacari Manoogian led Westbrook with 18 points while Abier Manyiel and Jeremiah Alado each scored 13 in the win.
Kennebunk finishes the year with an 11-8 overall record. After another early postseason exit, Belanger hopes that his team, which consists of primarily sophomores and juniors, will learn from the loss and come back stronger and another year wiser in 2018-19.
“Our goal is to get to the (Cross Insurance Arena) but this is the second straight year for a lot of these younger kids to be here,” said Belanger. “If they just keep building that experience, and to come back as juniors and seniors, I think a lot a lot of the mistakes we made we can eliminate as we get smarter with the game and just more comfortable.”
— Associate Sports Editor Alex Sponseller can be reached at asponseller@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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