READFIELD – Five games remain, but the Maranacook boys’ basketball team took a giant step toward securing a Western Class B tournament berth Saturday night.

The Black Bears took charge in the third quarter, then hung on to nip Winslow 52-50 in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference game.

The loss was the third straight for Winslow (8-3) and the fourth straight win for Maranacook (8-5).

“This was a huge win,” said Harry Lanphear, who scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Maranacook. “It was really huge.”

Maranacook’s rise has coincided with the improvement of 6-foot-6 Kyle Boucher, who scored 10 points, hauled in nine rebounds, blocked four shots and intimidated anyone coming into the paint.

“He had a tremendous game,” Maranacook Coach Rob Schmidt said. “I have to remind myself sometimes that Kyle Boucher and Cris Banda are only sophomores and they don’t have a lot of big-game experience.”

Banda connected on a key 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter after the Black Raiders had pulled within 37-34 on a 3 from Justin Murray. The basket was the only one for Murray, who is averaging 16 points per game.

“We wanted to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible,” Schmidt said. “So we rotated a couple of guys on him and told them to face-guard him all night. Our game plan coming in was to slow down the 30 points a game that (Mike) McCann and Murray are averaging.

McCann finished with 16 points but was held to three in the second half. The Raiders struggled from the field, shooting 16 of 50 for 32 percent.

“I think in the third quarter when they were starting to pull away from us, I think we started feeling sorry for ourselves,” Winslow Coach Scott Wood said. “And we didn’t take a whole lot of responsibility for our actions.”

The Raiders hit four 3s in the fourth quarter but never drew closer than five points until Caleb Hill hit from the right side just before the buzzer. The Black Bears held them off at the free throw line despite going just 12 of 22 for the game. Jack Kennedy (eight points, four assists) hit three foul shots in the final two minutes.