The little practice the Brunswick High School boys basketball team had around the Christmas holiday focused on two things — putting last Saturday’s 53-48 loss to Bangor behind the Dragons and getting ready for an athletic Lewiston squad on Friday in the team’s final Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference game of 2012.

Brunswick’s work paid off in a 57-45 victory, giving the Dragons a 4-3 mark with a visit to Erskine Academy set to kick off 2013 on Wednesday.

The hosts used a 24-point third quarter to take control in the second half.

Lewiston rebounding

“They had 21 shots in the first quarter to our nine, so we had to do a better job of boxing out, and we did that in the second half,” said Brunswick coach Todd Hanson, who watched his team begin to win the rebounding edge (Lewiston finished with a 31-28 advantage) as the game went on.

Despite Lewiston’s dominance in the opening frame, which included six offensive rebounds and a 13-7 overall edge on the boards, the Blue Devils’ inability to make a shot cost the visitors, who watched an 8-8 deadlock turn into a 16-8 deficit with two minutes remaining until halftime.

“I thought our effort energy wise was fine, but we just couldn’t finish, and they just played better than us,” said Lewiston (3-3) coach Tim Farrar. “I thought our leaders would be better than they were tonight. Brunswick is a well-coached team, and you have to beat them because they will not beat themselves. They are tough.”

Ryan Black seemed to channel graduated older brother Mitchell (in attendance while on break from Tufts University) in the first quarter, draining two 3-pointers and finishing with 10 points.

“I found my shot, and it felt really good,” said Black, who had six first-quarter points and finished the night with 10. “This is a huge win. We felt bad about the Bangor loss, knowing we should have won. We turned it up, the fastbreak, and we played better defense. We worked hard in practice, knowing Lewiston is very athletic.”

“Anytime you can make baskets, three 3-pointers in the first half, you have to feel good,” said Hanson. “Lewiston will win some games. I challenged our kids, Ryan (Black), (Blake) Gordon and (Brad) Smith, to show their leadership, and they did that tonight and came up big.”

Lewiston shot just 18 percent (seven of 37) in the first half, while the Dragons made eight of 23 shots (34 percent).

The Blue Devils showed a full-court press to begin the second half, but the Dragons, behind guards Gordon, Derek Devereaux, Konnor Scarponi and Black broke the pressure and reeled off 24 third-quarter points to take control.

“We feel good about our backcourt, knowing we can go four guards, which is our strong point,” said Hanson.

“We trapped fine, but the next level wasn’t there,” said Farrar. “We were just a step behind and they were step ahead.”

Gordon scored eight thirdquarter points to lead Brunswick, while Smith, held scoreless in the first half, popped for six points as the Dragons made 10 of 16 shots (62 percent) from the floor.

Brunswick’s lead increased to a game-high 20 points, 53- 33, with 3:37 remaining before Lewiston closed the game on a 12-4 run to make the final score closer.

Gordon had a game-high 17 points for Brunswick, with Devereaux and Scarponi adding nine points each and Smith eight points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots. Alex Bandouveres came off the bench to pull down five rebounds and score four points.The Dragons shot 46 percent (22 of 47) from the field and made 10 of 15 free throws.

Quintarian Brown paced the Blue Devils with 10 points off the bench, while Harris finished with eight, and Josh Thomas, Adam Poliquin, Donne Aggossou and Steven Patrie picked up six points apiece. Aggossou pulled down eight rebounds and had four steals, and Patrie six caroms and three steals.

Lewiston was 21 of 68 (30 percent) from the floor and made two of three free throws.

Brunswick 57, Lewiston 45

At Brunswick
Lewiston — 8 6 15 16 — 45
Brunswick — 8 11 24 14 — 57
Lewiston — Josh Thomas 3-0-6, Adam
Poliquin 3-0-6, Donne Aggossou 2-2-6,
Abdi Hussein 0-0-0, Steven Patrie 3-0-6,
Quintarian Brown 5-0-10, Ben Howell 0-0-
0, Mohamed Mohamed 1-0-3, Chris
Suazo 0-0-0, Isaiah Harris 4-0-8, Daniel
Fortier 0-0-0, William Curry 0-0-0. Totals
— 21-2-45.
Brunswick — Blake Gordon 5-7-17,
Derek Devereaux 3-2-9, Ryan Black 4-0-
10, Konnor Scarponi 4-1-9, Brad Smith 4-
0-8, Alex Bandouveres 2-0-4, Brett Lancaster 0-0-0, Nolan Robbins 0-0-0. Totals
— 22-10-57.
3-point goals — (L) Mohamed; (B) Black
2, Devereaux.
Records — Brunswick 4-3, Lewiston 3-3.
Next — The Dragons visit Erskine Academy on Wednesday, while Lewiston hosts
Mt. Ararat on Wednesday. Both games are
setfora7p.m.start.