KENNEBUNK — The Kennebunk boys basketball team outscored visiting Westbrook in two quarters on Monday afternoon, but the Rams would struggle to score in the other two periods as they dropped a 49-44 decision to the Blue Blazes.

“You can’t come out of the locker room and always have to play from behind,” said Kennebunk coach Barrett Belanger.

Kennebunk struggled right out of the gate as the Rams were only able to put up four points in the opening eight minutes, which helped Westbrook take a 13-4 lead into the second.

“I didn’t think it was a matter of how we were executing, we just didn’t really shoot well,” said Belanger.

The Rams came storming back in the second with Zach MacKinnon, Ryan Coughlin and Cam Lovejoy all scoring five points in the frame. Kennebunk would outscore the Blue Blazes 17-12 in the quarter to cut the Westbrook lead to 25-21 at the break.

Unfortunately for the Rams, their shooting troubles would return in the third quarter. It would take nearly seven minutes for the home squad to find the bottom of the net and they would finish with just six points in the period.

The good news for the Rams was Westbrook had nearly as much trouble scoring in the period and only outscored Kennebunk 9-6, which put the lead at 34-27 heading into the fourth.

MacKinnon, who came in averaging over 20 points a game, would heat up in the fourth as he hit three long-range shots in the final eight minutes. Kennebunk would outscore the Blue Blazes 17-15 in the quarter, but it wouldn’t be enough to get the win.

“They are a good team and they just outworked us, rebounding and defensively,” said Belanger of Westbrook.

Belanger said his message to the team will be simple at today’s practice.

“We’ve got to toughen up,” said Belanger.

The Rams, who dropped to 7-6 with the loss, have a tough season-ending stretch, including games against Class A South leader Greely (12-1) and a 10-2 Lake Region team.

“That’s a game that we needed to have and it’s an uphill battle here to start getting some wins. So we are going to buckle down and get ready for Freeport on Friday,” said Belanger.

MacKinnon, who has been a consistent leader for the Rams, led the way with 16 points.

Belanger was happy to see his standout once again put up solid numbers, but he also knows MacKinnon will need some help.

“We just run him off a lot of screens, we set up a lot of isolations for him, we do whatever we can to get him looks, but it can’t always be just on Zach. We need a second guy to come up and score … we have guys who can do it, we just have to do it a little more consistently,” said Belanger.

The Rams also got nine points from big man Travon Bradford, while Lovejoy finished with eight points and Coughlan added seven in the loss.

Westbrook was led by Zac Manoogian with 19 points.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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