Thornton Academy 52

South Portland 49

In a game that featured 10 ties and 14 lead changes, the South Portland boys’ basketball team shot better down the stretch to hand Thornton Academy their first loss of the season, 52-49 Saturday in South Portland. In front of a rowdy and excited home crowd, the Red Riots hung with the Trojans all afternoon, before pulling out to a six-point lead late in the game. Keegan Hyland led all scorers with 27 points for the Riots. Kory Martin led the Trojans with 12 points.

“I thought this was a huge win for us against a very well-coached and very good team in Thornton Academy,” said South Portland head coach Phil Conley. “I thought both teams played very well. It was a great high school basketball game.”

It was apparent from the get-go that this would be a closely contested basketball game. The first quarter alone featured five lead changes to go along with four ties. Both teams traded baskets in the opening minutes. Neither team could pull out to any lead bigger than two points. In the final minutes of the first quarter, the Trojans took the biggest lead of the game to that point when they finished the quarter with six straight points to grab a 15-11 lead. Martin recorded six of his 12 points in the first.

“We decided to play a two-three in the first quarter,” said South Portland senior Nick Wright. “In the first half, they didn’t hit too many shots, so we stayed with it. We were rebounding and we stayed with it. We knew we had to keep Martin off the boards. We were just trying to do what we practiced.”

The second quarter featured a little more defense than the first, but the back-and-forth trend continued. The Riots entered the second down four points, but quickly made them up when Wright hit a jumper and Matt Lee nailed a three-pointer to reclaim the lead.

South Portland looked to extend their lead after a defensive rebound, but Jeff Winnie stole the ball near midcourt and finished with a layup to give Thornton the lead again. Hyland hit a three and South Portland took a two-point lead. James Morse tied the game with a pair of free throws, but Wright hit another shot to give the Riots a 21-19 lead with time winding down.

“Nick Wright has been tremendous all year,” Conley said. “He has been going against bigger guys all year and he has held his own rebounding, under the basket and playing defense. I can’t ask for more from him. He has done a tremendous job.”

It appeared Thornton would head to the locker room trailing, but John Trull fired a shot from beyond the arc to once again give his team the lead, 22-21 at the half. The second quarter featured four more lead changes and one more tie.

South Portland reclaimed the lead as soon as the second half began with a three-point shot from Will Furbush. But Martin scored four straight points to give Thornton the lead again. That lead was short-lived as Hyland and Lee led a 6-0 run for the Red Riots.

Thornton tied the score a couple of times midway through the third before finally taking back the lead late when Winnie hit a three pointer. Just as quickly, Lee hit a shot to give South Portland the lead yet again. This time it was for good. The Riots ended the third quarter with a 39-37 edge.

The Trojans tied the game one last time early in the fourth quarter. But Hyland scored five in a row, including a three-point play to give the Riots their largest cushion of the day, 44-39. At that point, Thornton coach Bob Davies called a timeout.

When action resumed, the Trojans got going again and pulled back to within just a point again late in the game. But as time wound down, the Riots did what they needed to and made their shots.

“Furbush, Gaddar and Wright-our three seniors settled the show for us when we needed to run some clock,” Conley said. “Having those three guys is beneficial to us late in games. They settle everyone down.”

Winnie hit another three late to make it a one possession game. They fouled intentionally to stop the clock and South Portland shot a one-and-one. But the shot was off-target and the Trojans grabbed the rebound and called timeout.

“We came out of the timeout and we wanted to take the first available shot,” Davies said.

The ball landed in the hands of Dakota Greene at the top of the key. His shot was no good and the Riots grabbed the rebound to hold on for the win.

“With all we went through this summer, everyone kind of wrote us off,” Wright said. “We lost coach DiBiase and lost a couple of big men and everyone kind of wrote us off. But we knew we could play and we would come together. It’s nice to show everyone that South Portland is going to be a contender this year.”

The Trojans will be in action again on Friday when they host Noble. The Riots were scheduled to head to North Berwick to battle Noble on Tuesday.

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