AUBURN — St. Dom’s played the degrees-of-separation game to motivate itself for a Saturday boys’ basketball game against Mt. Abram.

“They gave Telstar a run and beat Madison, who we’d lost to,” Saints junior guard Zak Johnson said. “We knew we had to come out strong. We felt like we were better than them and had to come out and put it to them.”

Real-life separation on the court and on the scoreboard was more staggering. The Saints routed the Roadrunners, 67-28, in an MVC verdict at Callahan Family Gym.

St. Dom’s (5-7) hopes the one-sided victory will spark what has become its patented late-season surge.

This year’s starting five played central roles on the 2010-11 team that ended the conference campaign with six straight wins after a 3-9 start.

“When we play well, I don’t think there’s many people who can beat us,” said Tom Applegate, the Saints‘ 6-foot-7 center. “We’ve just got to come out ready to play every day.”

That wasn’t an issue Saturday, when the Saints scored 16 unanswered points — most of them courtesy of a smothering full-court press — and built a 25-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

It was a far cry from less than 48 hours earlier, when St. Dom’s gave up two dozen in a row after scoring the first bucket against undefeated Dirigo, the heavy favorite in Western Class C.

“We’re pretty athletic, and certain teams we can press well,” St. Dom’s coach Ryan Deschenes said. “We were fortunate enough to put some really good pressure on in that first quarter, and it opened up that lead early. It’s good that we came out with that type of energy.”

Johnson scored six points in the quarter. Ian McCracken chalked up six more off the bench. Applegate and Drew Gosselin each added five.

St. Dom’s entire 12-man roster got into the scoring column. Applegate finished with 13 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots, limiting Mt. Abram big man Tyler Hupper to one point.

Joe Bryant matched Applegate with 13 points, hitting all four of his field goals from 3-point range, and fashioned four steals. Gosselin chipped in 10 points, McCracken nine and Johnson eight.

Johnson and David Dean combined for 11 assists.

“We had a good inside-out attack tonight against their zone,” Deschenes said. “That opened up things for everyone.”

St. Dom’s extended the lead to 39-10 at halftime on the strength of Bryant and Gosselin’s perimeter prowess.

The Saints harassed the Roadrunners (2-10) into 4-for-23 shooting and 14 turnovers in the first half.

Ian James and Amos Withee paced Mt. Abram with eight points apiece.

Six of St. Dom’s seven losses are to Dirigo, Spruce Mountain, Boothbay and Hall-Dale, teams with a combined record of 39-6. Wiscasset (twice) and Mountain Valley are the only clubs on the Saints’ remaining slate with a winning mark.

“It’s a lot like last year,” Johnson said. “We started off not so great. Then we had that one game and it started the run, so we’re hoping this will be the game that gets that run going.”

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