The Winthrop High School boys’ basketball team knew what it was getting into before its 80-53 win over Wiscasset on Saturday — James was going to get his points and there was only so much the Ramblers could do about it.

The 6-foot-6 senior center did his part and put up 27 points in the Mountain Valley Conference game, but unfortunately for James, Winthrop was even hotter than he was. The visitors splashed eight 3-pointers and caught fire in the fourth quarter to remain unbeaten.

“Mostly, we didn’t handle their pressure,” Wiscasset coach Dana Lawrence said. “My guys might have been a little run down there because we really only went basically five-, six-deep. We had a couple ball players out, but they execute. They pressured very well, and we didn’t handle it.”

Despite trailing for most of the game, Wiscasset (6-4) was still in it late in the third quarter, when Winthrop’s (8-0) lead shrunk all the way down to one point.

Then Jared McLaughlin came on the scene. The sophomore didn’t score in the first half, but had the ball in his hands at a crucial point in the third quarter. With the clock winding down, he obliged bench calls of “Shoot!” and swished a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded.

Then, on the first shot of the fourth quarter, he hit another trey and followed it up with a converted hoop-and-harmer on the next possession.

Suddenly the Ramblers were up big, thanks to McLaughlin’s only nine points of the night.

“That’s a big play for a sophomore,” Winthrop coach Todd MacArthur said. “He had come in and the first half he didn’t really knock down any shots, but all of a sudden he came in and he knocked down a few shots and that 3 at the buzzer really got us going, really extended the game.”

From there, it was cruise control. Senior guard Jacob Hickey led the charge as Winthrop went on a 26-14 run to end the game. Hickey notched a game-high 28 points and hit three 3-pointers in the second half.

“I think we came out a little bit flat in the game,” Hickey said. “We really wanted to make a gap there, scoring-wise, in the second half.

“Jared McLaughlin did a great job tonight — he hit some big shots, drove to the lane, got some nice steals. He was really key tonight. Offensively, I think we ran our sets a little bit better.”

Wiscasset, playing with a depleted roster, didn’t have much left in the tank to respond with. Only two Wolverines managed to score in the fourth quarter.

“Tonight, we didn’t shoot the ball real well,” Lawrence said. “That opened up their defense to be a little more tenacious that way. We were there for three, three-and-a-half quarters, and even at that point we had a chance. We just missed some gimmes down there that could have made a difference.”

“One of the things that we do, that I definitely think was a big help for us, is we do grind teams down. Wear them out,” MaCarthur said. “I think that’s what happened in the fourth. We saw them with their hands on their knees and they were taking deep breaths, so that started to open up some bigger gaps for our bigs to expose.”

‘Terrific player’

James, who was two rebounds shy of his double-double at the halftime break, scored nine of Wiscasset’s 14 fourth-quarter points on three treys. He hit four on the night, grabbed 11 boards and finished with 27 points.

“He’s a terrific player,” Hickey said of James. “We really wanted to get out on him. He can hit the 3, he can drive. He’s really tall, so he can get rebounds. He can do everything. We really wanted to make sure that we boxed him out, contested his open 3s. That was really key.”

Another key was driving right at him. MacArthur said part of Winthrop’s game plan was to attack James and try and spark some fouls.

“He can’t score of he’s not on the floor,” MacArthur said.

And James wasn’t for a few stretches throughout the night, including the end of the first half.

When he was on the floor, he was often double-teamed, and came out with baskets anyway.

“You’ve got to try and make him work for everything that he gets,” MacArthur said of James. “You’re not going to stop him. He’s one of the top-tier players in this conference. Much respect to him as a player. We’re not going to sit here and lie and say, ‘We want to hold him down to zeros.’ It’s not going to happen. We’ve got to make sure he works for everything he gets.”

Zach Reed was James’ primary help, finishing with 19 points and nine boards. Reed scored eight of those points in the first quarter, during which Wiscasset built a 13-10 lead that was quickly erased by a 9-2 Ramblers run heading into the second.

Nate Woodman (four points) and Logan Orr (three points) were the only other scorers for the Wolverines.

Winthrop, on the other hand, had nine different scorers, including three in double-digits. Cam Wood, a 6-foot-8 sophomore center, battled James inside throughout the game and notched 14 points on top of three boards. Garrett Tsouprake scored 13, while senior guard Bennett Brooks finished with six points and a game-high six assists.

“Hey, we just played the No. 1 team for three-and-a-half quarters with six guys. Outstanding effort,” Lawrence said.