CUMBERLAND — It took Greely High standout Logan Bagshaw barely four minutes to drain 17 points on his way to a 45-point night, but visiting Kennebunk never flinched.
Instead, the Rams responded. Kennebunk was able to hang with Greely while Bagshaw was red hot, used its balance to slowly take the lead and then took control behind its own star Max Murray in a 30-14 third quarter.
The Rams rolled to their sixth straight win with Tuesday’s 79-66 Class A South victory.
Kennebunk, ranked second in the Heal point standings, is 9-2. Greely, coming in at No. 3, had its six-game win streak snapped and is 8-3.
“We can run with any team, so if (Bagshaw) makes it we’re running the break,” said Murray, a senior forward.
Murray scored 14 of his 26 points in the third quarter, with a couple of threes, a strong one-handed dunk and three steals that helped the Rams ratchet up their transition game. His sophomore brother Ian Murray (16 points) who jump-started the surge with a nice cut to the basket for a layup (big brother had the bounce-pass assist) and a 3-pointer.
“Once I saw the first shot go in, I knew it was going to be a big quarter for the team,” Max Murray said.
The elder Murray’s first 3-pointer, coming in rhythm as a trailer on the break, gave the Rams their first double-digit lead at 48-37. He closed the quarter with a 3-pointer, a sweet turnaround in the lane, and then his dunk for a 68-51 lead after three quarters. Kennebunk made nearly 63 percent of its shots through three quarters (27 of 43).
“At the end of the day we have to play defense for four quarters and they’re a tough team to play defense against,” said Greely Coach Travis Seaver. “Max Murray is one of the better players in the state. Their little spurt in the third quarter was just hard to recover from that.”
Adam Lux added 14 points for Kennebunk and combined with Max Murray to control the boards. Kyle Pasieniuk added 11 points, six coming in the third quarter.
Last season, Greely defeated the Rams, 69-62, in the 2019 Class A South semifinal. That night, Ranger seniors Zach Brown and Andrew Storey combined with Bagshaw to score 52 points. Greely went on to win its third straight Class A title. Now, the load falls heavily on Bagshaw, who recently set Greely’s career 3-point record and had eight 3-pointers on Tuesday, which was his second 45-point game of the season.
“We know he can do things like that, but we know he can’t do it for four quarters, you know what I mean?” said Kennebunk Coach David Leal. “We knew Logan was going to score a lot of points. Our goal was to keep their other two or three scorers under 10 points.”
Nick Butler was Greely’s second-leading scorer with nine points. The Rangers’ three other starters combined for 10 points and the bench production totaled two free throws by Harrison McFarland with under 10 seconds to play.
Kennebunk is at Falmouth (9-3) on Thursday. The Rams beat Falmouth, 54-50, in the season opener.
“We’re calling this a business trip week,” Leal said.
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