WINDHAM – Sean Murphy scored 21 of his 30 points in the first quarter Friday night and Westbrook went on to a 61-50 victory against Windham in an SMAA schoolboy basketball game.
Murphy, a 6-foot-6 senior who scored one point Tuesday night in a 52-35 loss to defending Class A champion Cheverus, hit his first eight shots to propel the Blue Blazes into an early 23-12 lead.
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“He certainly came out on fire tonight,” Westbrook Coach Mark Karter said.
“He’s a tremendous shooter and when he gets it going, he’s hard to stop. We needed that tonight to get us going on the right foot.”
Five of the eight shots Murphy made in the first quarter came from various spots behind the 3-point arc.
“Last game against Cheverus, I really didn’t get my shot down,” said Murphy, who scored 22 points in a season-opening 45-25 victory at Kennebunk. “I worked on it this past week. I felt very good.”
All of Murphy’s points in the first quarter came against Windham’s zone defense.
“We didn’t think we were going to score enough points going in, so we thought we would have a chance if we could keep the score low, but the game didn’t end up going that way,” Windham Coach Kevin Millington said.
“We worked on knowing where Murphy is during our practices. Obviously we didn’t do a good job of that.”
The Eagles, who trailed by as many as 17 points early in the second half, got back into the game by resorting to a full-court, man-to-man press.
“We weren’t stopping Murphy with our zone and we weren’t scoring points against them, so we thought we’d change the pace and get some quicker guys in the game,” Millington said.
Windham finished the third quarter with an 8-0 run to close within 44-37.
“I didn’t think we handled (the press) that well,” Karter said. “We’re still young in the backcourt. We have a lot to learn. I’m hoping two or three weeks from now we’ll handle that a lot better.
“You’ve got to give Windham credit. They really fought back.”
The Eagles (1-2) pulled within four points as Jed Merrill hit a 3-pointer and Kyle Williams sank two free throws to make it 46-42 with 5:20 remaining.
But Trevor Bates, a 6-2 senior who plays in the sixth-man role, helped Westbrook (2-1) hold on by scoring seven of his 13 points in the fourth quarter.
The Blazes sank 8 of 9 free throws in the final minute and a half to stretch their lead.
Ben Noble led the Eagles with 17 points. Merrill followed with 11.
Windham played without Nolan Allen, who suffered an ankle injury during a 47-31 loss to South Portland after scoring 33 points in a season-opening 60-48 victory against Massabesic.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:
pbetit@pressherald.com
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