POLAND – With his young team nearing the halfway point of the season, Poland coach Chris Willer is just asking his players to stay upbeat and continue to work hard.

A victory may soon be their reward, but Cape Elizabeth made sure on Thursday night that the Knights will have to keep working for it.

Andrew Dickey scored 10 of his game-high 21 points in the third quarter as Cape Elizabeth pulled away en route to a 60-47 win.

“I think we played better as a team,” Willer said. “We’ve been struggling down the stretch, but we’ve started to play with a little more confidence and a little more under control. We still had a ton of turnovers.”

The Knights had 28, to be exact. A number of those came against the Capers’ fullcourt pressure.

“They’re very disciplined in (the press) and a lot of times it’s tough for kids to focus and understand where they have to be,” Willer said. “I thought we did an OK job with it.”

The Knights (0-7) were able to beat the press for a few layups, including one by Kenzie Cook that gave them their last lead at 11-9 midway through the first quarter. But Poland turned the ball over eight times in the quarter to offset a hot shooting start (6-for-9).

Poland’s zone defense kept Cape in check early on, but using skip passes and some good interior passing, the Capers were able to stretch the defense and pound the ball inside to rugged senior center Ian Place (13 points, six rebounds) to take the lead for good with 2:53 remaining in the first quarter.

“A few times in the first half, we got some real good looks.” Cape coach Jim Ray said. “We missed some easy opportunities, but that happens. I thought we did spread them out a little bit and got some good production out of Ian Place inside.”

A Poland turnover led to a three-point play by Dickey that put Cape’s lead into double digits with 3:26 left in the half. The Capers (5-2) extended the cushion to 12 by halftime, then went on a 12-2 run in the third quarter to pull away. The starters built the lead to 23 before giving way to the end of the bench midway through the fourth quarter.

“I think we played better defensively in the second half with a little more intensity,” Ray said. “You’ve got to convince the kids that they’ve got to make defense fun. Everybody wants to play offense, but if you play good defense, you’ll get more offense.”

Nick Douglass led Poland with 12 points, all coming in the second half. T.J. England added 11 points for the Knights.

“I’m never pleased with losing, but I think the overall attitude of the kids…they’re still working hard every day and they still realize that if they continue to work they’re going to get better,” Willer said. “The kids are still positive.”