Boothbay’s calling cards are man-to-man resistance, stamina, and feathery shooting. But Pinkham’s willingness to gamble and play Thursday night’s MVC boys’ showdown in a phone booth was a major reason the Seahawks fluttered away with a 53-46 triumph over the previously undefeated Ramblers.

“We haven’t played zone all year, but I don’t think I can guard them man-to-man … yet. That’s a work in progress. That’s why I went to a zone,” Pinkham said. “We’re pretty long and we’re pretty quick, so the zone worked well. I’d rather be able to play man all the time.”

Jumping out to leads of 8-0 and 16-2 helped Boothbay control the flow of the game with greater authority. Winthrop shot 30 percent from the floor and couldn’t close the deal after its own 15-0 run wiped out most of a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

Evan Hepburn led Boothbay with 17 points and 10 rebounds. John Hepburn added 13 points, six rebounds and four steals, and Abel Bryer chipped in 12 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots.

“We got good looks inside. We didn’t finish,” Winthrop coach Todd MacArthur said. “They block a lot of shots. They alter a lot of shots. They get their hands on a lot of balls.”

Sixth man Jacob Hickey led Winthrop with 14 points, including 10 to keep the Ramblers afloat during an otherwise horrendous first half. Ben Allen scored all 12 of his points after intermission. Matt Sekerak added 10.

Both teams are 11-1 and in a scramble with Dirigo for the top seed in the upcoming Class C West tournament.

“Once we were able to get our transition going is when we were able to get back in the game, because we were down and out,” MacArthur said. “They dictated the pace. That was an awful start. We have to be more prepared. That’s my fault.”

Winthrop rallied while the Hepburns wrestled with fourth-quarter foul trouble.

Bryer’s bucket via the offensive glass to beat the third-period horn gave Boothbay a 46-31 lead, but it was the Seahawks’ final field goal. They endured a six-minute drought after Evan Hepburn’s two free throws on the opening possession of the fourth.

Boothbay committed nine of its 24 turnovers in the final stanza.

“I knew we would struggle with their pressure. Nobody else does that to us,” Pinkham said. “They really put a lot of pressure on you, and it disrupts us offensively. If anybody watched us tonight, they wouldn’t know what our offense was, because we never really got into it.”

Allen’s jumper from the left wing resurrected Winthrop. He capped the surge with consecutive 3-point plays. The latter free throw made it 48-46 with 2:09 left.

The Seahawks didn’t help their cause by missing five of their next seven from the free-throw line, but a John Hepburn steal and an Evan Hepburn tie-up to continue a Boothbay possession doused Winthrop’s momentum.

John Hepburn drained 3-of-4 from the stripe in the final 18 seconds to ice it.

“I thought we rebounded the ball pretty well tonight, and I got a decent game out of my junior, Bryer,” Pinkham said. “They worked hard, and they did what I asked them to do. It was a good win for us.”

Before the game turned into a defensive lockdown, Boothbay nailed its first six shots and seven of eight out of the gates.

Julian Aponte scored the Seahawks’ first five points. John Hepburn added a 3-point play before Sekerak broke the ice for Winthrop with a baseline jumper.

Evan Hepburn answered by sandwiching baskets around a Bryer hoop off Boothbay’s press-breaker. Hepburn’s second hoop was courtesy of a Jacob Leonard steal. Bryer then put back Boothbay’s initial miss for two more and a 14-point cushion.

“We didn’t shoot very well. I thought we turned it over a lot, especially playing a zone,” MacArthur said. “It wasn’t like we were facing a lot of pressure.”

Hickey and Sekerak hit 3-pointers to keep Winthrop’s disparity at a manageable 20-10 after one quarter.

It was 27-18 at the end of a cold-shooting second. Three-point plays by Aponte and Evan Hepburn were the highlights for Boothbay, which held Winthrop without a field goal for the final 5:43 of the half.

“We’re still a pretty damn good basketball team, and we’ll adjust,” MacArthur said. “That’s the nice part is we don’t have time to mess around. We have to go straight to Dirigo (Monday), and they’re going to be ready for us, because they want some revenge. We’re going to have to stay together and fix some of our holes, be better down the stretch and get ready for the tournament.”

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