By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – Some of Class C’s best young players were introduced to the Augusta Civic Center yesterday, and it didn’t take long for them to make themselves at home.

No one got comfortable quicker than Boothbay sophomore guard Owen Johnson, who torched No. 6 Winthrop for 33 points to lead the third-seeded Seahawks to a 67-60 win in the Western Class C quarterfinals.

Boothbay (14-5) will face No. 2 Wiscasset in the semifinals Thursday night.

Johnson carried the Seahawks in the first half with 23 points, then focused most of his attention in the second on stopping Winthrop freshman Sam LeClerc, who nearly matched Johnson point-for-point through the first 16 minutes.

“He’s got a scorer’s mentality and he’s going to do it for us when we need it done,” Boothbay coach I.J. Pinkham said of Johnson. “He plays with a lot of confidence, and that’s what it takes.”

“Owen Johnson was just lights out today,” said Winthrop coach Dennis Dacus. “It was just one of those days where we couldn’t do anything to stop him.”

Boothbay freshman center Kris Noonan also presented problems for the Ramblers inside and on the boards (12 rebounds), scoring 10 of his 14 points in the second half to help keep the Seahawks in front for the final 15 minutes.

Senior Chip Burnham scored 14 points and sophomore Mike Gingras had 11 for Winthrop (11-9).

Johnson and LeClerc staged a thrilling first quarter duel. Johnson came out on top on the score sheet, scoring 15 in the period to LeClerc’s 13, but the Winthrop freshman got the last laugh in the quarter by hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull the Ramblers within two.

The back-and-fourth action continued into the second quarter, though the two guards also got their teammates more involved. LeClerc converted a three-point play to produce the game’s first tie at 31 apiece. After Burnham gave Winthrop its last lead of the game with a bucket, Johnson responded with two to tie the game again at 33. Pat Norton scored to put the Seahawks up two, and LeClerc answered with a hoop of his own. Johnson then gave Boothbay the halftime lead on a three-point play with three seconds left.

“I wasn’t shooting very well in warm-ups,” Johnson said. “I was kind of off, but then once you get on the court and get in the flow of the game, and get your butterflies out, it’s easier.”

LeClerc opened the second half with a trey to tie the game at 38, and it seemed the duel was back on. Those would be his last points of the contest, though. Winthrop went to its bench, and that allowed Johnson to put the clamps on LeClerc from there.

“They give us a matchup problem when they start (Max) Beauregard because it means I have to put my point guard (5-6 sophomore Matt Sceviour) on LeClerc, and he can shoot right over the top of him,” Pinkham said. “When they bring (Nate) Damm in off the bench, then I can put Johnson on LeClerc like I did in the second half, and it makes for a much better matchup for us.”

“He’s tough to guard (one-on-one), so we tried to force him outside and help comes from the baseline,” Johnson said. “We didn’t do it very well in the first half, but we did in the second half.”

With LeClerc neutralized, Burnham kept the Ramblers within striking distance, drilling a trey that pulled them to within a point late in the third quarter, then sinking a two-pointer early in the fourth to cut the deficit to two. But Winthrop went cold in the final period, shooting just 2-for-18, while Boothbay pounded the ball inside to Noonan and sent Johnson slashing to the basket to make 5-of-7 field goal attempts.

“I think we lost our legs and they just got a little too far ahead and we couldn’t catch up,” Burnham said.

Two Burnham free throws made it 63-60 with 2:42 to go, and that was the end of the scoring for the Ramblers. A Sceviour runner and two Noonan free throws in the final minute put the game away.

“We were in the game to the end. We just didn’t play as well as they did in the last two minutes,” Dacus said.