BRUNSWICK — The Coyne brothers took over the game during the second half to rally unbeaten Falmouth to a 61-51 win against Brunswick in a Class A South boys’ basketball game on Thursday night.

Thomas Coyne, a senior guard, scored 14 of his team-high 21 points in the second half, and his younger brother Colin, a junior guard, scored nine of his 13 points in the fourth quarter as the Yachtsmen ran their record to 5-0.

“In the first half, I thought (the Coynes) were trying to do too much too quick,” Falmouth Coach Dave Halligan said. “Once we slowed the game a little bit and let the game come to them, it was fine.

“We like it up-tempo but more controlled. We were forcing shots in the first half, especially in the first quarter. Once we shared the ball a little bit we got the ball in a better spot.”

The Dragons (3-2) led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter and took a 31-27 lead into the second half.

“We had a really good first half, but it’s hard to maintain that level of intensity against a great team for 32 minutes,” Brunswick Coach Todd Hanson said. “I think we ran out of steam at the end. When they play with the lead, they’re really hard to beat.”

Thomas Hanson, a senior guard and the coach’s son, led the Dragons with 21 points. Caleb Cost and Josh Dorr each added 10 points.

Sam Skop, a 6-5 center, scored 12 points for Falmouth.

It took nearly three full quarters for the Yachtsmen to move into the lead.

Falmouth took the lead for the first time when Thomas Coyne hit a 3-pointer from the right side with 55 seconds left in the third quarter.

After finishing the third quarter on a 10-3 run, Falmouth scored eight consecutive points to start the fourth quarter and open up a 49-38 lead.

The Dragons got no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

“I’m proud of the effort we gave. Offensively, we bogged down in the second half, and I give (Falmouth) credit for ratcheting up the defense,” said Hanson, whose team missed 15 of its first 16 shots in the second half. “We didn’t get clean looks. Our shots were just a little off balance.”

The Dragons held a 27-17 lead with 4:42 left in the first half.

“They were attacking the rim, and we were too passive on defense and we weren’t helping,” Halligan said. “Everybody was defending their own man, and once we got help over to the ball side we played much better defense.”

The Yachtsmen limited the Dragons to 20 points during the final 16 minutes.

“Our defense is a team defense,” Halligan said. “It’s not one-on-one. It’s one-on-five. Once we were pressuring the bigs and getting weak-side help, (Brunswick) couldn’t get into their inside-out game.”

It was the first time the two teams played against each other. The game came a week after the Dragons lost by 13 points at Cumberland to Greely, another new team on their schedule.

“We’ve gotten a pretty good barometer playing Greely and Falmouth,” Hanson said.

“Our goal is to get better as the season goes on, and I think we really can make some progress and be a tough team to beat at the end.”

Copy the Story Link