Andrew Shaw of Spruce Mountain High School gets a piece of Cam Wood of Winthrop while trying to block Shaw’s shot during the first half in Jay on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

JAY — The Winthrop Ramblers were shorthanded and coming off a tough loss to Boothbay when they entered the hostile Spruce Mountain gym for a big Mountain Valley Conference boys’ basketball tilt Friday night.

Spruce Mountain coach Scott Bessey warned his team that Winthrop would battle like wounded animals, which is precisely what the Ramblers did, roaring out to a 15-3 lead, then holding off a second-half rally by the Phoenix for a 43-41 win.

Playing without second-leading scorer Jared McLaughlin, who suffered a concussion in Wednesday’s 58-55 loss at Boothbay, and head coach Todd MacArthur, who was unable to be with the team, the Ramblers relied heavily on ferocious defense and 6-foot-8 junior center Cam Wood (23 points, nine rebounds) early on.

Wood then helped them withstand a third-quarter onslaught that saw the Phoenix whittle a nine-point halftime deficit to four heading into the fourth. Clearly running on fumes, the Ramblers made a couple of hustle plays in the final seconds to secure the win.

Both teams are now 11-3.

“This is a huge win for us, especially coming off a loss in Boothbay,” Wood said. “We really needed to get a win.”

“I’m proud of the boys,” said JV coach Jon Baehr, who was acting head coach in MacArthur’s absence. “The biggest thing I told them is they have to learn how to win together, and tonight they did. This is our first big win on the road.”

Winthrop kept playing with purpose to the end, grabbing two key offensive rebounds off of missed free throws in the final 15 seconds to force the Phoenix to travel three-quarters of the court for the final shot. Mason Shink, who had hit four 3-pointers in the second half en route to his 12 points, took that shot in front of his own bench from about 23 feet, but it was well short as the final horn sounded.

The night ended the way it started for the Phoenix. They made just one of nine 3-point shots in the first half and shot 4-for-21 from the floor overall in the half.

“There were nerves for some reason on our home court against an opponent we should be confident against,” Bessey said. “I think we looked tight. I think there was some tentativeness and we were ice cold. They were ready to go. They were short-handed, but I knew they weren’t going to be any easier.”

“I thought we did a very good job with their flex cuts, jumping over the cut,” Baehr said. “We got hands up in the first half. We contested probably 75 percent of their shots in the first half. We did a really good job of playing defense as one unit, helping each other and talking and helping through screens. The boys did a great job tonight holding them to 41 in their own place.”

Winthrop established Wood early, not only inside but outside as he drilled a 3 from the top of the key to make it 12-3. Wood later made the Phoenix pay for paying too much attention to him in the high post when he found Jevin Smith on a backdoor baseline cut for a layup that made it 17-3.

“We preach in-and-out basketball, so we like to get our bigs touches first, and then we can kick it out and make 3s and attack from those areas,” Baehr said. “(Spruce Mountain does) a really good job of trapping, so we tried to get somebody in the high post and then dive down, and Cam benefit ted from it, I would say.”

“He’s a huge kid and they do a very good job of going high-low with him sealing,” Bessey said. “For us it’s an easy game plan — inbound the ball real quick and go 100 miles-an-hour up the court and try to get a shot off and try to get into his legs, and I think it worked.”

Spruce Mountain buckled down defensively in the second quarter, forcing nine Rambler turnovers to chip away at the deficit. Brett Frey, who led the Phoenix with 13 points, cut the margin to nine just before halftime by stealing the ball and going coast-to-coast for what ended up being a three-point play.

The Phoenix found their shooting form in the third quarter as Shink and Kayle Stewart combined to make five of their first six 3-point attempts in the period. 

“Basketball is a game of runs, especially with a team like that,” Baehr said. “They have four kids on the floor at any time that could hit a 3-point shot.”

To mitigate Spruce’s hot hands, Winthrop continued to pound the ball inside to Wood, who scored 12 of their 16 points in the quarter to help them take a 37-33 lead into the fourth.

“With Jared out, not just one person has to step up. We all had to step up as a team to replace what he usually brings,” Wood said. 

The Ramblers kept it a two-possession game for much of the final quarter. Frey drilled a trey to make it 41-38 with 4:48 left. The Phoenix had several chances to get closer but couldn’t capitalize before Smith hit a pair of free throws to make it a five-point game with 2:26 to go.

Shink pulled Spruce back within two with a 3-pointer off a Frey steal with 46.5 seconds left. Spruce’s press forced another turnover at midcourt but missed a pair of free throws that would have tied it with 28.2 seconds remaining.

Shooting one-and-one, Winthrop’s Ryan Baird was short on his first shot, but a scrum on the floor ended with a jump ball, with the possession arrow pointing Winthrop’s way with 11.7 seconds to go. 

Two more seconds ticked off the clock before the Phoenix sent Wood to the line. His first shot went off the side of the rim, but Baird snatched the rebound and got fouled again.

Baird missed again from the charity stripe, but a Winthrop player got a hand on the rebound and knocked it out of bounds in front of the Ramblers’ bench with six seconds remaining.

“Those three offensive rebounds on foul shots, that was huge,” Baehr said.

“Our options are very limited at that point with six seconds going the length of the court against a very long, very good defensive team,” Bessey said. “Obviously, if we take care of that first missed free throw, we’ve got 13 seconds left and can probably get the ball up and call timeout and that’s a whole different ball game.”

Winthrop High School coach John Baehr is frustrated along the Ramblers’ sideline in Jay on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Mason Shink of Spruce Mountain High School drives to the basket against Winthrop in Jay on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Beau Brooks of Spruce Mountain High School drives to the basket against Jack Bryant, left, Brett Frey and Andrew Shaw of Winthrop in Jay on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Nate Leblanc of Winthrop reacts following a big play during the first period against Spruce Mountain on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

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