CUMBERLAND — With two of its most experienced guards unable to play, someone had to step up for Greely.
That someone turned out to be Zach Brown, a 6-foot-3 junior swingman.
Brown scored 27 points Saturday night to lead the Rangers to a come-from-behind 66-60 win over South Portland.
The reigning Class A state champions were missing junior point guard Mike Coppersmith, who has an injury that will keep him out of the lineup for at least one more game. Shane DeWolfe, a senior guard, is still recovering from a football injury, and Coach Travis Seaver doesn’t expect him to be ready to return to the lineup for at least two more weeks.
“I felt like today, because we lost (Coppersmith), I had to do more,” Brown said. “Basically, we lost one of our best ball handlers, so I had to step up and bring the ball up the court most of the time.”
Brown also had to continue to score. He did both jobs well.
“Zach is a very versatile player who can do a lot of things for us,” Seaver said.
South Portland (1-1), the two-time Class AA South champion, was all over the Rangers in the first quarter, jumping out to an 18-6 lead.
“The first quarter, we were playing at the pace they wanted us to play, a high pace, and we had a bunch of turnovers,” Brown said.
Greely (3-0) committed eight turnovers in the first quarter, which ended with South Portland holding a 21-14 lead.
“The turnovers were the big key in the first quarter because they were able to get out and run, and they’re pretty athletic,” Brown said.
The Rangers rallied in the second quarter and pulled into a tie when Brown drove down the right side to make it 30-30 with 1:25 left.
“We worked on changing the turnovers and playing more together on offense,” Brown said. “We were playing outside the 3-point line and we weren’t cutting toward the basketball. We played more as a team, which was why we were better in the half-court set.”
South Portland carried a 33-30 lead into the second half, as Riley Hasson’s 3-pointer from the right corner beat the halftime buzzer to put the Red Riots back in front.
The score was tied twice in the third quarter. With 33 seconds left, South Portland pulled into a 43-38 lead when Ryan Boles sank two free throws after Noah Malone hit a 3-pointer.
Jack Kane, Greely’s 6-8 center, answered with a drive along the left baseline for a basket that cut that deficit to three points going into the fourth quarter.
Brown then scored the first six points of the fourth to give Greely a 46-43 lead. Later the Rangers reeled off 12 straight points to make it 58-46 with 2:18 remaining.
Kane scored 14 points and Andrew Storey finished with 13 points for the Rangers.
Malone and Connor Buckley each scored 17 points for South Portland (1-1). Liam Coyne added 11.
“We’re still trying to determine our identity,” South Portland Coach Kevin Millington said. “We have four players back from last year’s team but they are all playing different roles. We haven’t figured out where everybody belongs yet.”
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