AUBURN — At 5-foot-7, Nate Poulin can be easy to lose on a basketball court, especially when he’s off standing in the corner.

But Poulin can also be St. Dom’s most dangerous weapon in its spread motion offense, as he was in the final three quarters of Monday night’s 57-42 victory over Winthrop.

Poulin scored 12 points, all in the final three quarters and all on 3-pointers, providing the perfect perimeter complement to slashing sophomore Peter Keaney (23 points).

“If we just rely all on penetration, everyone’s going to sag and it will break down,” St. Dom’s coach Ryan Deschenes said. “But if we have the shooters that can suck that defense out, like Nate, he’s a game-changer with his abilities. And he hit a few big ones tonight.”

Corey Staples led Winthrop with 22 points, while Tyler Arsenault poured in 10 points.

Winthrop switched to a 3-2 zone after Keaney dribbled  his way to the hoop for 11 first-quarter points and a 19-13 lead.  Poulin hit his first 3-pointer early in the second quarter to give the
Saints a 24-13 lead and they were never seriously challenged from there.

“When they switched to zone, we were able to move the ball around really well and find open looks,” said Poulin a senior guard.  

“We really needed to rotate out on the shooter, and we missed a couple of times and they nailed the 3s,” Winthrop coach Rollie Pelky said. 

The Ramblers (2-4) missed  their first  eight shots of the second quarter and ended up shooting just 2-for-14 from the field in the period. Only eight Saints’ turnovers kept Winthrop within shouting distance, 30-19, at halftime.

“We’re not in sync offensively,” said Pelky, whose team had only four players score. “Too many turnovers, too many missed layups. That’s what’s killed us all year long and got us again tonight.” 

“In the first quarter, we let them get too many easy shots, especially Staples (10 points in the quarter), who was taking us off penetration to the right,” Deschenes said.  “We adjusted him to the left and forced him out of his game a little bit in the second quarter and took control with that.”

The Saints (4-2) used good ball movement to solve the zone in the third quarter. First Keaney hooked up with Kurt Johnson for a layup, then Tim Day found Chris Bryant (seven points) in the lane for an easy hoop, followed by a Keaney layup off a steal that made it 38-21.  The Saints closed the period with an 8-2 run capped by a Poulin 3 from the corner that beat the buzzer for a 46-27 cushion.

“We knew our motion spread would get good looks, which it did,” Deschenes said. “We finished off our dribble penetration and knocked down our layups and got a couple of kick-outs from penetration.”

“(Having Poulin in the corner) makes it easier for me because when I drive, his man kind of has to stay with him,” Keaney said. “That pretty much leaves me one-on-one. If I didn’t have a 3-point shooter in the corner, they could just double down. But with Nate out there, I can pass it out and they can’t leave him open.”

Winthrop made four of its first five shots of the fourth quarter and pulled to within 10 on a three-point play by Staples with 3:14 remaining. St. Dom’s buckled down on defense again and held the Ramblers scoreless the rest of the way.

After losing two of three to start the season in their new conference, the Saints now take a modest three-game winning streak going into Wednesday night’s big matchup with one of their biggest challengers in the MVC South, Boothbay.

“We’re starting to get more used to the league,” Poulin said. “It’s definitely more physical than the other (Western Maine Conference) league. We’ve got a little bit of momentum going into Christmas and we hope to keep it going.”

St. Dom’s Peter Keaney goes up for the shot past Winthrop defenders Billy Gordon, left, and Justin White in a basketball game played at St Dom’s on Monday