Boys basketball: Calders lead Monmouth past rival Winthrop

MONMOUTH — The Monmouth Academy boys basketball team took care of business against rival Winthrop on Tuesday.

The Mustangs built an early lead en route to a 59-44 victory.

“This way by far one of our more complete games of the young season,” Monmouth coach Wade Morrill said. “We had a lot of contributions from everybody who got in the game.

“It was a packed house — Winthrop-Monmouth, it’s always packed, we are so close together. There’s a lot of familiarity with our kids because they play a lot of sports together. I think it was a great atmosphere and our boys did what they had to do to be successful tonight.”

The Calder brothers led the way for Monmouth, Sammy scoring 16 points and Manny Calder finishing with 15. Gavin Gregor added 13 points.

Manny Calder said the Mustangs kept their foot on the gas offensively and defensively for most of the game.

“The big part was our defense, I think we sped them up a little bit and we played solid enough to hold them down,” he said.

Winthrop coach Todd MacArthur said that increased pressure often leads to mistakes by the Ramblers.

“They are physical, they are intense and they speed you up,” MacArthur said of the Mustangs. “We are a team, when we get sped up, we are prone to make mistakes and turnovers. Turnovers usually cost us because they lead to two quick points the other way. That’s something we are working on to try to get better at.

“Much respect to Monmouth and Coach Morrill because they do a great job.”

Matt Beck scored a game-high 17 points for Winthrop (3-5).

“When Matt Beck can get downhill and towards the rim, he can do a lot of great things,” MacArthur said. “I think once the game settled down, he understood the pace of play, and he was able to get comfortable and play the game he wanted to play. Early on, the game was too fast and it sped him up. It was nice to see him respond in the second half like he did.”

Both teams started slowly from the field in the first quarter. Manny Calder hit a 3-pointer 3 minutes, 30 seconds into the game for the game’s first points. He then made a jump shot for a 5-0 Monmouth lead.

The Ramblers then got buckets from Beck and Tyler Shumway to cut the deficit to 5-4.

Monmouth (4-1) started to build its lead at the end of the first quarter, highlighted by Manny Calder hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 14-6 advantage.

“It just felt good off the release,” Calder said. “It’s always cool to hit a shot like that.”

The teams traded a basket to start the second quarter, but led by Hunter Frost’s five points, the Mustangs took a 23-10 lead into halftime.

The third quarter was evenly played, but the Mustangs’ maintained their double-digit lead behind Gregor’s five points in the quarter and Manny Calder’s four. Carter Rivers led Winthrop with five points in the third quarter and Beck had six points.

Monmouth took a 38-23 lead to the fourth. Winthrop decreased the deficit to 10 points when Rivers and Brayden Stubbert hit 3s, but that’s was close as the Ramblers got.

“That’s one thing I am proud of my boys: they fought to the final horn,” MacArthur said. “That’s a nice trait to have that you don’t give up, and fight to the end. I was proud of that for my kids.”

The Mustangs hit their free throws in the final minutes to seal the win. After making only 2 of 7 in the first three quarters, they were 13 for 16 from the foul line in the fourth.

“Gavin was 5 of 6 in the fourth period, Sammy was 5 of 6 in the fourth period,” Morrill said. “In the fourth quarter, we were tremendous from the free throw line — we weren’t so great before that. …We are able to hold onto our lead in the fourth quarter.”