SOUTH PORTLAND — Deering High blew a 12-point advantage in the second quarter and was fortunate to carry a 26-24 lead into halftime Friday night against South Portland.
Every time the Rams appeared to be pulling away, the Red Riots fought their way back.
Deering Coach Todd Wing told his team the usual things at halftime – reduce the turnovers and talk to each other on defense. Then he added a third instruction.
“I told them to run, to run as fast as they could,” Wing said.
Deering did. The Rams kept up the tempo and eventually created separation, beating South Portland 66-46.
Deering outscored the Red Riots 24-7 in the fourth quarter to run its record to 9-0. South Portland dropped to 7-3.
“We ran a lot and they were able to keep up for three quarters, senior Anthony Lobor said. “But we kept on running.”
Lobor, a 6-foot-4 forward, was one of Deering’s leaders with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Ben Williams, a 6-foot forward, scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and 6-4 center Raffaele Salamone added 10 points and five rebounds.
Deering outrebounded the Red Riots 45-37 and kept getting second shots with 18 offensive rebounds, to South Portland’s eight.
Another key stat: South Portland made 28 turnovers, to Deering’s 21.
“We had some major problems,” South Portland Coach Kevin Millington said. “We turned the ball over way too much. And we did a poor job rebounding.
“Deering is very quick to the ball. It’s not easy to rebound against them.”
South Portland didn’t score for the first four minutes and trailed 18-12 after the first quarter. With Lobor and Williams driving hard to the basket and Salamone making moves inside, the Rams built that lead to 24-12 midway through the second quarter.
The Red Riots again took more than four minutes to score in the second quarter but finally got five points each from reserves Deandre White and Riley Hassan.
Ruay Bol added a jumper during a 12-0 run that tied the score 24-24.
“They’re a good team, and good teams are going to make shots,” Wing said. “We anticipated them making a run, and they did.”
Salamone banked in a layup with three seconds left for the halftime lead.
Then came Wing’s halftime chat.
He had earlier spoken to Lobor, who hadn’t been dominating the boards like he is capable.”
“I challenged Anthony today, looking at stats and at the offensive rebounds, and he responded,” Wing said.
Of Lobor’s 13 rebounds, seven were on the offensive end.
Still, the Rams could not shake South Portland in the third quarter. Ansel Stilley (10 points) and Bol (nine points, 11 rebounds) kept the Red Riots close.
Deering led 42-39 after three quarters. Wing wasn’t worried.
“We want to make conditioning a factor,” Wing said. “I told them it might not pay dividends for one play, but it will pay dividends in the fourth quarter. And there it is – 24-7 in that final quarter.”
Deering started the fourth quarter with three baskets, then created turnovers and crashed the boards for a 12-0 run and a 60-41 lead.
Millington, whose team had won six straight, took a glass-half-full approach.
“Deering is undefeated,” he said. “Not that I don’t think we can beat them, I think we can. (But) we’re probably not in that game at all at the beginning of the year.”
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