By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

LISBON – Lisbon had Winthrop’s parade of pain-in-the-neck perimeter shooters memorized like the names of world leaders on a history exam. There’s Nate Damm and Sam LeClerc and Mike Gingras and, um, let’s see, are we forgetting anybody?

Yeah, just the only senior standing on the Manchester Gym floor and wearing a green jersey for most of Thursday evening.

It was Chip Burnham, a 6-foot-2 center more highly esteemed for short baseline jumpers and defensive rebounds, who knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the second half to push Winthrop to a weighty 55-50 MVC boys’ basketball win over Lisbon.

Weighty, because it ended a four-game losing streak for Winthrop (8-7), and because the Heal Point margin in Western Class C between fourth (a preliminary round bye) and 12th (a longshot road trip before you can even dream of walking into the Augusta Civic Center) is roughly a free throw or two in this kind of swing game.

“This gets us back on track,” said Burnham. “Sometimes we come out passive with a lead in the second half, and it kills us. Tonight, we weren’t passive when we were up.”

Burnham’s bids from beyond his usual outer limits typified that aggressiveness. He nailed Winthrop’s final field goal of the third quarter, a 21-footer from the right corner, with 3:06 remaining. It stood up for a 35-32 lead at the horn.

Then he christened the fourth quarter by staring down the Greyhounds’ 2-2-1 zone defense and nailing another trey from the left wing.

Winthrop ran with that momentum to a double-digit lead midway through the period and held on despite a flurry of late second-chance buckets by the bigger Greyhounds.

Outsized and omitted from Lisbon’s long-range defensive game plan, Burnham finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.

“In the past, whenever we had a lead and teams made us go up-tempo, we went into a shell,” said Winthrop coach Dennis Dacus. “This time we attacked. The second we got the ball to the wing against that 2-2-1, we attacked, got three or four baskets out of it, and that was the difference.”

LeClerc (12 points) also hit a critical, third-period trey that took away Lisbon’s last lead of the night. Damm dropped in six of his 11 points in the fourth. Gingras added eight points, four assists and three steals.

Dacus says Burnham is streaky. The senior laughs.

“Sometimes I hit one a game,” Burnham said. “Well, not really.”

Lisbon coach Doug Sautter couldn’t even see Burnham spotting up along the far sideline on Winthrop’s opening possession of the final stanza.

“All of a sudden, I see the ball come out and it goes in,” Sautter said. “I had no plans on Burnham beating us with outside shooting.”

The Greyhounds used their strength in the middle with 6-5 Brendan McGivney and lone senior Chris Kate, and led by as many as seven in the first half. McGivney scored six of his team-high 14 in the second quarter.

Winthrop finished the half with six unanswered points, however, and took a 25-24 advantage into the locker room. Tyler Smithgall (six points, 11 rebounds) worked the ball inside to Burnham for a deuce, Damm dropped a pair of free throws, and freshman LeClerc landed a feathery jumper from the top of the key.

Lisbon (7-9) finishes with MVC powers Mountain Valley and Hall-Dale, meaning that opening-round bus ride is almost certain.

“We’re not happy unless we get down 10 points. Then we put in some effort,” Sautter said. “We’re young. They’re young, too. They just played very, very smart.”

Mike Wilkins finished with 12 points and five steals for the Greyhounds.