POLAND — Poland boys’ basketball considers the 1-2-2 halfcourt zone its emergency defense.

Watching Spruce Mountain dribble around, nursing a nine-point lead with 4:30 to go in a game that neither team led by more three until the final tick of the third quarter clock, fit that description.

“We know when we have to go to it, it’s an option,” Knights junior guard Nate Chouinard said. ‘We have a few options on defense. That was the one that worked against them.”

The Phoenix furnished no answers to the riddle, and Poland finished with a 16-2 run to seal an unlikely 61-56 victory in a Class B South clash.

Chouinard and Patrick Kuklinski went a combined 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final 1:18 after Poland (4-3) tied the game with a transition clinic.

“We had to go with something. I mixed it up a few times throughout the game, because they were shooting the ball well,” Poland coach Tyler Tracy said. “We dug deep in the bag with the 1-2-2, and luckily we came out with a lot of intensity and forced turnovers and got momentum going. It’s like a train.”

John Fossett fought through frequent double teams and led Poland with 17 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Caleb Hodgkin added 14 points and eight boards. Chouinard (nine points, five assists) and Kuklinski (eight points, five steals) were crucial to the comeback at both ends of the court.

Caulin Parker led all scorers with 20 for Spruce Mountain (2-3). Austin Darling added 10. The Phoenix committed seven of their 16 turnovers in the fourth quarter and lost despite shooting 50 percent from the field.

“That comes down to someone you can trust with the ball in their hands, and I haven’t found that yet,” Spruce Mountain coach Scott Bessey said. “A lot of teams have that guy. When you’re up nine with four minutes left, that’s a win when you have guys you can trust in the fourth quarter who are going to make the right play.”

James Ouellette’s offensive rebound led to a Darling basket that put the Phoenix in front, 54-45. Poland notched only two field goals in a span of more than eight minutes before Jared Martel buried a 3-pointer with 4:14 to go.

Fossett cut it to four with a jumper from the right baseline, then made a steal to set up a Chouinard basket. Kuklinski’s theft led to Hodgkin’s foul-line jumper to tie it at the 2:48 mark.

“We just pushed the ball well. We made good, smart passes. We didn’t turn the ball over as much, and a lot of guys stepped up,” Fossett said. “Everybody was fired up after that. We just kept pushing through.”

Chouinard drew an offensive foul against Ouellette, who fouled out on the play and then acquired a technical. Kuklinski canned the resulting free throws for the lead.

Spruce Mountain’s lone field goal down the stretch was an uncontested drive by Darling with five seconds to go. Kuklinski clinched it with two more freebies.

“We lost our composure for sure. We get into trouble if we don’t get a steal and a layup or at least a drive-and-kick in transition. When we try to go too fast when the defense is set, we just hand it to them and turn it over,” Bessey said. 

There were 11 lead changes and six ties through the first three periods.

Poland took its largest early edge of four points twice in the second quarter, on baskets by Fossett and Chouinard. Spruce Mountain went up by three on five different occasions. Parker and Andrew Darling combined for five 3-pointers in a first half that ended with the Phoenix on top, 31-30.

“That’s a good team, and they played really well. They did some things that kept us on our toes,” Tracy said. “We hung in, we battled, and it’s good for us to know with our inexperience that we can do that.”

Chouinard banked one off the glass to pull Poland even at 43 with 1:39 to go in the third before the Phoenix took apparent command with an 11-2 explosion. Austin Darling’s jumper and Parker’s trifecta made it 48-43 with eight minutes to go.

Brett Frey, Mason Shink and Austin Darling all scored from close range early in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to scare off the Knights, who beat the Phoenix in the 2013-14 playoffs en route to a regional title.

“This one is going to hurt. With these crossover games, it isn’t like you can get those (Heal) points,” Bessey said. “Those are gone now. You play them once, they own them, and we’ll have a hard time catching them now if we end up with the same record.”

koakes@sunjournal.com