AUBURN – Anyone in the sparse holiday crowd at Callahan Family Gym could have turned away from the basketball court Monday and still known who had the ball and how things were going.

Following the action was simple as listening to St. Dominic Regional High School boys’ coach Ryan Deschenes shouting above the murmuring and the squeaking of sneakers: “Sprint!” when the Saints were on defense; “Settle!” when possession was theirs.

In a clash of styles and experience levels, tournament-tested and streaking St. Dom’s imposed its will at the expense of freshman-and-sophomore-dominated Gould Academy in a 71-54, non-conference Class C victory.

“We knew they liked to run,” St. Dom’s senior Greg LaBonte said of Gould. “Our goal was to slow ’em down a little bit. We did that pretty well.”

LaBonte set the pace with 19 points, six assists and three steals for the Saints, who played the high-low game to near perfection at times and summoned a calm, authoritative answer every time the high-octane Huskies threatened to rally.

Billy Colasante added 18 points and seven rebounds to give St. Dom’s (6-7) its fourth consecutive win, a Heal Point-worthy one that will thrust the Saints back into Western Maine tournament contention. Dave Roux registered 16, including three 3-pointers.

“Tonight we were really balanced, which is what’s propelling us through this half of the season,” Colasante said.

St. Dom’s led 34-29 at halftime and never let the margin dip below seven after a 6-0 run in the first 79 seconds of the third quarter. D.J. St. Pierre (four points, nine rebounds), Aaron Allen (eight points, four assists) and Colasante each scored during that surge, with LaBonte delivering the last two assists.

Five points from freshman Jeff Fortunato in the final 1:17 of the third period brought Gould back within seven at 53-46. The Saints were a smoking 6-of-8 from the field in the fourth quarter and swished their final six free throws, however, while Gould went 4-of-21 to finish 23-for-76.

Fortunato rolled up 21 points and nine rebounds, and Joe Johnson put together 15 points, 12 boards, four steals and three blocked shots for Gould (7-2).

The Huskies graduated all five starters from last season’s Western Class D champion. Although they’ve begun a successful jump to Class C – Gould is expected to fall in the top five when the current Heals are revealed on Tuesday – most of the early-season victims have been familiar ‘D’ foes.

“We kind of got a lesson in what Class C’s all about in terms of toughness and size,” said Gould coach Alec Newell. “That’s what we need. If we’re going to be involved in that tournament, we need to see some tournament-type teams.”

Gould exploded out of the gate to a brief 5-4 advantage before Colasante and LaBonte combined for nine unanswered points. They teamed up for 15, in all, to snag the Saints a 20-13 lead.

Roux notched eight points to help counter Fortunato’s dozen in the second period.

“The key to this game was getting back in transition ‘D,’ getting into a half court game, and once we were in our offense, to settle down, work the ball and pound it inside,” Deschenes said. “We had a great inside-out attack tonight.”

St. Dom’s will experience its own step up in competition when it battles Class B power Falmouth and traditional ‘C’ rival North Yarmouth Academy on Friday and Saturday.

“It’s a whole new season for us,” Colasante said. “I think we’re pretty confident.”