POLAND – Balanced scoring plus a happy surprise off the bench plus the opponent’s primary playmakers scratching their closely cropped heads.

That’s the equation when the world is revolving according to plan for the St. Dominic Regional High School boys’ basketball team.

Eight different players got on the board for St. Dom’s Friday night. Junior reserve Nate Poulin canned a career-high four 3-pointers. And the Saints held an opponent under the 40-point threshold for the fourth time this winter in a 53-35 Western Maine Conference victory over Poland.

“The last two games have been kind of a struggle for us,” said St. Dom’s senior co-captain Greg LaBonte, acknowledging losses to Yarmouth and Traip. “Today we really needed to turn it around. This definitely got our season going in the right direction.”

LaBonte led the resurgence at both ends of the floor with 15 points and four steals for the Saints (5-4), who peeked their heads back above the .500 mark at the season’s halfway point. Poulin pitched in 12 points.

St. Dom’s surged to a 9-0 advantage in the first four minutes and was never threatened. Poulin saw to that, silencing Poland’s modest second-period rally with a pair of 3-pointers to restore a double-digit lead, 26-16, at the half.

“That’s my high this year. They left me open, so I took it,” Poulin said. “We were able to move the ball around. We got our shots off early. We played pretty good defense.”

Poulin swished two more bonus balls in the third period, while the Saints stymied the Knights (2-8) to the tune of six points and six turnovers.

“They just work hard on defense,” Poland coach Gregg Rose said of St. Dom’s. “We’ve got to get used to people right on us. We’ve got to buckle down and take it to the hole and get some good shots.”

Kevin Payette paced Poland with 12 points and seven rebounds. His customary cohort in the paint, 6-foot-5 junior Mike Littlefield, missed the game due to illness.

Littlefield’s absence took more of a toll on Poland’s perimeter game than its interior prowess. Without the extra threat down low to keep the Saints’ defense honest, the Knights scored only seven points from beyond 10 feet.

Casey Ray was Poland’s second-high contributor with six points, all in an utterly academic fourth quarter.

“We’ve just got to get more shots up,” Rose said. “Our style of game isn’t a fast game like it has been the past couple years. We’ve got to get better shots and play better defense.”

Aaron Allen and freshman Peter Keaney combined for 11 points during St. Dom’s first-quarter, halfcourt clinic. Trey Ouellette’s drive to the hoop with 3:04 remaining was Poland’s lone field goal.

St. Dom’s scored inside – courtesy of Allen and Matt Barrett – and out during a third quarter that startlingly resembled the first. Poulin’s fourth trey of the game made it a 41-20 disparity.

“The key for us this year is being consistent at both ends of the floor. When we do that, our energy picks up and our overall sharpness and execution picks up,” said St. Dom’s coach Ryan Deschenes. “When we’re at our best, we’re balanced. When things are going bad, we just have one or two guys carrying the load. That’s when teams can key on us.”