BOOTHBAY – Lisbon had em right where they wanted em. Then it became a game.

No 6. Boothbay raced out to an early lead, then survived a fierce Greyhound comeback in the fourth quarter to post a 51-40 win over No. 11 Lisbon in preliminary round Western Class C boys’ basketball action here Wednesday.

The win sends the Seahawks to Augusta.

“I told the guys at halftime that I have never been around a more resilient group of kids,” said Lisbon coach Doug Sautter. “I told them at the half we aren’t comfortable unless we are down by 15. So we are right where we want to be.”

Early on it was the size and quickness of the Boothbay inside game combined with Lisbon jitters that sent the game down a path that gave no indication it would be anything less than a blowout.

The Seahawks’ Jack Sherman moved with ease into the paint and picked up six of Boothbay’s 10 first quarter points to give the home team a six-point lead after one quarter.

It was more of the same until halftime as Boothbay recorded two baskets for each Lisbon score.

The Greyhounds were extremely tentative in the first half.

“It was nerves,” said Sautter. “We had guys that couldn’t catch at the post, and we missed easy baskets. I think we were just a little high-strung. We were scared to shoot.”

It was a different Greyhound team in the second half as Lisbon began to chip away at the 27-12 halftime deficit.

When Lisbon’s Aaron Farmer hit back-to-back three-pointers late in the third and Chris Kates closed the frame with a 3-point play, the Boothbay margin was down to 11 at 38-27.

“The most important part of the game is the way you come out in the third quarter,” said Boothbay coach I.J. Pinkham. “You need that momentum coming out of the locker room and we definitely didn’t do that. They came out of the locker room and they scored two quick baskets.”

Lisbon continued to chip away, adding full court pressure to the mix in the final eight minutes.

When Farmer was fouled on a layup with 5:12 remaining, his 3-point play made it a five-point margin at 40-35. His three-pointer midway through the period made it a 42-38 game.

It was a close as the Greyhounds would get as Boothbay’s Roy Arsenault hit a pair of field goals to secure the win.

“When they started putting defensive pressure on us, it took us much longer than it should have to adjust to it,” said Pinkham. “We should have adjusted to that quicker.”

Sherman led all scorers with 13 points. Farmer led the Greyhounds with a dozen.

pmullen@sunjournal.com

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