Scarborough 55

Windham 51

The Scarborough boys’ basketball team entered the fourth quarter of Friday night’s game with Windham with a 10-point lead. The Eagles managed to tie the game before the Red Storm held them off with a few late free throws for their fourth win of the year. Garrett Alofs and Chris Hughes each had 11 points for Scarborough.

The Eagles overcame the deficit with stingy defense and accurate shooting. Ryan MacQueston, Travis Guerrette and Jon Sangillo led the Windham comeback with Sangillo tying the game with a three-pointer midway through the fourth to punctuate a 10-0 run.

“We came out in the second half and wanted to run our offense and execute everything,” said Alofs. “We did and we got ahead. But they kept making runs at us.”

But the Red Storm scored four straight points to get some breathing room. Sangillo then made two free throws to make it a one-possession game again. But with time running out, the Eagles were forced to foul to stop the clock. Alofs and Hughes sunk four straight free throws to ice it.

“We have shot about 48 percent on the year,” said Scarborough coach Matt Townsend of his team’s free throw shooting. “We’ve gotten there quite a bit and it’s good to see it pay off. It’s always big to make free throws.”

Earlier in the game, the Eagles made a run. In the opening quarter the Red Storm took the lead early in the first quarter when Hughes hit his first free throw of the night. In that opening quarter, the Eagles had some trouble getting shots to fall and the Storm took full advantage of it, pulling out to an eight-point lead. By the end of the first, Scarborough was up 16-11.

The Eagles made a run in the second quarter but couldn’t tie the game. Sangillo had seven points in the second quarter as the Eagles pulled to within a single basket just before halftime. At the break the Red Storm still held the advantage with the score at 29-25 thanks to a late basket from Hughes.

The third quarter was the turning point for the Storm. They were able to get a cushion built up that wound up being big in the end. Sangillo made it a two-point game again to start the second half. But Scarborough immediately went on a run and scored nine points in a row and grab an 11-point lead. The teams traded baskets for the rest of the third quarter and with just one quarter to go Scarborough held a 45-35 lead.

The Red Storm needed every bit of that lead in the fourth when the Eagles made a run at them to tie the game. But in the end, Townsend says, it was his team’s experience that helped them come out on top.

“They did make a nice run,” Townsend said. “They are an athletic team and they caused some turnovers early in the fourth. They knotted it up, they didn’t get the lead, but they tied us up at 47. Coach Millington and I talked before the game. He has a bunch of sophomores and I have a bunch of seniors. It looked like the experience paid off at the end with the decisions we made and the free throws.”

With the loss the Eagles drop to 2-3 on the season. They are scheduled to take on Portland when their schedule resumes. Scarborough is off to a 4-1 start with the win and they will battle another team that is off to a fast start when they meet up with Westbrook in their next game. Townsend says his team’s experience and what they have already done this season should pay dividends as tourney time arrives.

“We’ve played two overtime games and I think that has helped us,” he said. “And with nine seniors we expect to win close games. We are battle tested with the guys we have.”