AUGUSTA – Anyone expecting a letdown from the Winthrop Ramblers after their emotional double-overtime win against Dirigo Thursday night has gotten on the wrong bus.
The Ramblers have had Boothbay in their sights for some time, and the Mountain Valley Conference rivals will collide tonight at 8:45 p.m. at the Augusta Civic Center for the Western C title.
“We’re going against a Boothbay team that beat us by 14 down at their place, but we’ve been just salivating trying to get back to that game,” Winthrop coach Dennis Dacus said. “We know that we’re better than that. We’re going to give them a much better game than we gave them down at their place.”
If Dacus is right, then maybe the second-seeded Ramblers (17-3) can take the next step in a year that has seen a young team go through more growth spurts than Yao Ming during puberty.
The 60-46 loss to top-seeded Boothbay (18-2) last month was probably the low point for the Ramblers.
Sophomore point guard nearly suffered a devastating neck injuty slamming into a wall behind a basket in Boothbay’s gym and had to be taken out on a stretcher.
Fortunately, Leclerc’s injury turned out to be minor, and he was back leading Winthrop to its biggest win of the regular season at Dirigo none the worse for wear.
“That was a turning point. That was our first huge win of the year,” Dacus said. “Since then we’ve played great basketball. We stumbled a couple of times against Mtn. Valley, but that’s it. We’ve risen to almost every occasion since then.”
They rose to the occasion Thursday after squandering a nine-point lead late in the fourth quarter. The Ramblers showed composure their coach doesn’t think they would have had two months ago, and Mike Gingras hit the game-winning 3-pointer just before the buzzer, setting off a wild, emotional celebration that carried from the mid-court stripe all the way to the locker room entrance.
Winthrop w ill need more clutch efforts to overtake Boothbay. Like the Ramblers, the Seahawks are young but proved their tournament toughness with an overtime win over North Yarmouth Academy Thursday night.
Both teams go to their benches sparingly, but that’s where the similarities end. The Ramblers prefer a frenetic pace, while the Seahawks, though capable of running in spurts, look to control the tempo. While Boothbay will probably play zone to try to negate the Ramblers’ quickness advantage. the game could come down to a match-up of the two centers, Boothbay’s 6-foot-4 sophomore Kris Noonan and Winthrop’s 6-foot-3 senior Tyler Smithgall.
Smithgall, a finalist for player of the year in the MVC, is averaging 26.5 ppg in the tournament and has been a tough match-up for bigger players because of his ability to score outside and in the low post.
“Tyler Smithgall has been amazing all year,” Dacus said. “He’s herky-jerky inside. He plays about seven inches taller than he is because he’s got long arms. He’s got an awesome touch. The thing is, he’s confident all the time and he doesn’t have a conscience.”
In a high-pressure game like this, whichever team has the fewest players with a conscience will probably prevail.
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