AUBURN – Saying that St. Dominic Regional High School doesn’t look like a .300 boys’ basketball team after Thursday night’s 61-49 win over Poland sounds like a hollow compliment.

Along the lines of telling someone that his puppy or her newborn baby is so ugly that it’s cute, for example. Then again, the way the Saints punctuated a disappointing first half to the Western Maine Conference campaign, they would have been willing to win ugly.

Instead, St. Dom’s knocked down its first five shots and controlled the Knights from tap to horn in what was easily its best performance of the winter, one the Saints hope will eradicate all memory of a dreadful road trip two nights earlier.

“We knew the loss against Sacopee Valley was pathetic,” said St. Dom’s junior Aaron Allen, reluctantly reliving a fourth-quarter collapse Tuesday that handed the Hawks their first win of the season. “We were mad, and we came out and put it to (Poland) in the first quarter.”

Allen, a 6-foot-5 forward, scored 11 of his 19 points in the opening period, attacking Poland’s 1-2-2 zone with an array of short, tailor-made jump shots and hooks in the paint.

Five different Saints notched an assist in the opening quarter, crisply paving the path to a 21-8 lead after one and a 33-16 advantage at the half.

“It’s the first game of the second half of the year, and we’re treating this as a new season,” said St. Dom’s coach Ryan Deschenes. “We were just sharp tonight. This was definitely our sharpest game of the year.”

St. Dom’s (3-7) showcases enough holdovers from last year’s Western Class C quarterfinalist to catch fire throughout what remains of January and into fateful February.

Fitting that description along with Allen: Seniors Dave Roux, who drained two 3-pointers in the first quarter and then scored 14 of his team-high 20 points after intermission; and Billy Colasante, the versatile big man who rolled up 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots.

Allen latched onto 14 rebounds in helping the Saints hammer out a 36-26 disparity on the backboards.

“When you don’t come out ready to play, you don’t deserve to win,” said Poland coach Chris Willer. “We came physically but not mentally, and you’ve got to have both if you want to play against teams like St. Dom’s that bring both every single time.”

The Saints led by as many as 20 before Poland (1-9) squirmed within 13 on three different occasions in the third quarter. Each time, St. Dom’s answered by breaking the Knights’ backcourt pressure and notching an uncontested layup – two by D.J. St. Pierre and another from Roux.

Poland rattled off 10 unanswered points and sliced its deficit to 55-44 with 1:34 to go, only to watch Greg LaBonte and Roux swish four straight free throws.

“It’s been our toughest stretch in history,” a relieved Roux said of the unexpected struggle to claim victories against a first-half schedule that included Class B powers Freeport and Yarmouth.

T.J. England led all scorers with 21 for Poland, which picked up its initial win Tuesday against Gray-New Gloucester. Nick Douglass added 12.