WINTHROP — Bent on revenge for its only loss of the  season, Winthrop dominated Friday night’s rematch with Spruce Mountain from the start, and never really let up.

The Ramblers got into gear at both ends of the floor early to fly out to a 15-5 lead and avenged their 52-41 loss on Jan. 14 in Jay with a dominating 55-30 win before a packed house at Winthrop High School.

Winthrop senior forward Ryan Baird registered 16 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, four steals and a blocked shot in an outstanding all-around performance, while Gavin Perkins added 11 points and led a collective effort to shut down explosive Spruce guard Brandon Frey, who finished with nine points. Jack Bryant led the Phoenix with 12 points.

“We were fired up. We were ready to play them again. We wanted to play them literally five minutes after we lost to them,” Baird said.

Both teams came into the game at the top of their respective region’s Heal point standings (Winthrop in C South, Spruce Mountain in B South). But the game was never as close as the meeting at the Nest.

“We also had a little bit longer to prepare for them, like last time they had a lot longer to prepare for us,” Winthrop coach Todd MacArthur said. “That makes a difference, when you take a game and you have a tournament-time mentality and you’re able to prep. I thought we did a good job of prepping for them and knowing what they were going to do and taking them out of what they do well.”

“They were obviously very hungry,” Spruce Mountain coach Scott Bessey said. “I thought we were, too. The way that they defend is something that we’re familiar with. Having one day to prepare, they had three days to prepare, probably plays into it a little bit. I think we made the proper adjustments, (we) couldn’t execute, couldn’t hold onto the ball.”

Winthrop established its dominance of the paint and the glass early, with Baird, Jevin Smith (eight points, six rebounds) and Noah Grube (four points, four rebounds) scoring on putbacks to stake the Ramblers (16-1) to the 10-point lead.

“(Our big men) are amazing,” Perkins said. “Having them in the paint when you’re missing shots and having them get all of those rebounds and putting them back is very nice. And they’re getting us good looks on the kickouts.”

Seven different Ramblers contributed a field goal in the quarter.

Spruce Mountain (14-4) was more competitive on the glass in the second quarter, but could not get anything going in the halfcourt or in transition, following a 2-for-10 first quarter shooting with a 2-for-11 second quarter.

The Phoenix actually had more success from beyond the 3-point arc (3-for-11) than inside of it (1-for-10) in the first half. Unfortunately for them, the Ramblers, who were 12-for-24 from the floor in the half, started to find the range, too, as Smith and Brad Bourne hit 3s of their own to extend the lead to 27-11 at the half.

With either Perkins or Ian Steele guarding Frey, MacArthur told his other defenders to keep tabs on the quick guard, too, and be prepared to hedge or help off of their man to get the ball out of his hands.

“Coach wanted us up and in his grill so he couldn’t shoot. We wanted to make him go to the basket where we had our bigger guys who could step off and help,” Perkins said.

“We were able to at least mess up their timing a little bit,” MacArthur said. “When you mess up their timing, things don’t flow as well for them offensively. And for us offensively, we made more shots tonight that we did the last game.”

The Phoenix started to look inside in the third quarter and had better results, but again the Ramblers only used that as incentive to showcase their outside game.

After a Bryant putback pulled Spruce within 31-17, Cam Hachey (nine points) knocked down a pair of 3s, then Perkins added a trey of his own that seemed to bounce off every part of the rim before rattling through and, in a little more than a minute, the Ramblers’ cushion inflated from a comfortable 14 to an insurmountable 23.

Winthrop went 6-for-9 in the quarter and finished 23-for-41 (56 percent) for the game.

“We’re very familiar with them and they’re very familiar with us,” said Bessey, whose team has a two-week break before it starts tournament action. “It comes down to effort and how well you execute your game plan. Their high-low game is very familiar. We shut it down the first time. I thought this time, we didn’t execute it properly.”

 

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