BIDDEFORD — Thornton Academy guard Ben Lambert opened the scoring in Friday night’s game at rival Biddeford with an easy layup after collecting a steal. Lambert’s seven baskets after that weren’t nearly as easy ”“ he just made them look that way. Lambert scored a game-high 21 points, including five 3-pointers, and was a catalyst in the Trojans’ 73-48 victory in an SMAA boys basketball game at Tiger Gym.

“Benny Lambert’s a real good basketball player, and he’s going to have those nights,” said Thornton head coach Bob Davies. “It’s a tribute to his teammates, because his teammates are the ones that are opening up that middle, making everybody collapse and getting him the ball.”

Lambert was just one of five Thornton (4-7) players who pitched in offensively for the Trojans in the first quarter, which saw all five starters make a field goal as Thornton jumped on Biddeford (1-11) 23-13.

“It was tough. They were making their outside shots. We knew they definitely had the size advantage inside,” said Biddeford head coach Justin Tardif. “So if they were going to make their outside shots as well, we were going to have a tough time to stop them.”

Much of the Thornton offense ran through 6-foot-5 senior forward Kevin Barrett in the first quarter, as Barrett poured in eight of his 14 points in the first eight minutes. And when Barrett wasn’t scoring, he was dishing into the open spots in the Biddeford zone defense.

“We were just moving the ball,” said Davies. “We were hitting the open guy and playing unselfish basketball.

“We’ve been working on player movement, ball movement, and sometimes we don’t do a good job of that, but we’re getting better at it.”

The Thornton lead ballooned to 43-19 at halftime, and despite the Tigers’ shooting woes, Tardif pointed back to the other end of the court as the difference in the game.

“The reality was, it was the defensive end that killed us,” said Tardif. “That’s where the game changed; we just couldn’t get any stops.”

Biddeford made three field goals as a team in the second quarter; Lambert himself bettered that total, making four while outscoring the Tigers 10-6 individually.

Lambert made two more 3-pointers in the third quarter, then he and the other Thornton starters made way for the bench players, who were able to keep the 20-plus point cushion intact.

Biddeford, trying to defend its home court against its biggest rival, did its best to make sure that point spread didn’t grow too large.

“That’s a tough situation to be in in a rival game like that. I thought they did an excellent job in that second half of not necessarily just playing hard, but being positive and staying together and encouraging each other,” said Tardif. “That’s a lot easier said than done, but they did a really good job with that.”

Austin Dutremble led the Tigers’ charge in the third, as he dropped in 11 of his team-high 13 points in the period.

Both teams spread out the scoring, as each had nine different players score. Besides Lambert, Barrett and Dutremble, Biddeford’s Jason Vadnais also finished in figures, as he scored 10 points.

— Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.