Hall-Dale’s Patrick Rush gets the rebound as Winthrop’s Cam Wood stays clear during the Class C South regional final Saturday in Augusta. Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn

Winthrop has reached the last four Class C South finals, and now two of the last three state championship games, on the strength of its defense.

Saturday night’s 61-41 win over defending regional champion Hall-Dale was perhaps the Ramblers’ most impressive performance on the Augusta Civic Center floor during the four-year run.

Winthrop locked down the Bulldogs’ scoring leader, Ashtyn Abbott, holding him to 13 points after the senior forward torched them for 26 points on the same floor in a 57-46 Bulldogs’ win on Dec. 28.

MacArthur assigned 6-foot-8 senior center Cam Wood on the slashing Abbott, hoping he his size would make Abbott uncomfortable and keep the slashing forward from stepping around his defender for  a clean look at the hoop.

Wood, who was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, held Abbott to three points in the first half as the Ramblers jumped out to a commanding lead. MacArthur praised his Mr. Basketball semifinalist for keeping the quicker Abbott in front of him and making him shoot over him.

“But anything our defense does is not just about the on-ball defender,” MacArthur added after Saturday night’s game. “It’s about the other guys, too,” MacArthur said. “I thought we did a good job of hedging and helping and rotation behind (Wood). We got some steals off some passes  that they were trying to our back side.”

Winthrop recommitted itself to defense after a less impressive performance against Dirigo in the quarterfinals, a 67-51 win.

“We made a conscious effort after the first tournament game to tighten up our defense, because if we want to make a run, that’s what we’re going to have to do,” MacArthur said. “We’re not bad offensively, either, but if we can limit teams to 40, 44 (points), we know we’ve got a pretty good chance of winning.”

“Forty-one tonight, that’s enough to do the job and go on and play for the gold ball,” he added.

MacArthur is quick to heap praise on virtually anything involving his team, but when it comes to defense, he’s a tough grader. As impressive as the Ramblers were against Hall-Dale, the coach will spend this week demanding even more from them as they prepare to face C North champion Houlton, which ended three-time defending champion George Stevens Academy’s run with a 54-34 win on Saturday night.

“I’m never satisfied,” MacArthur said. “My expectations  defensively are incredibly high. They’re pretty dang close to satisfying my expectations.”

“They’re pretty good when they work together and they work as a team,” he added. “We’ve just got to continue to do it together, because it’s about all of us, not one. If they can continue to do that, they can get the job done.”

The Ramblers and Shiretowners square off for the Class C state title at approximately 9 p.m. next Saturday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

Tourney grind does Patriots good

Coach Mike Andreasen wanted his top-seeded Gray-New Gloucester to be tested in the Class B South tournament, and even though they won their last two games by double digits, the Patriots were indeed tested, by Wells in the semifinals and Freeport in the final.

Gray-New Gloucester’s Eliza Hotham takes a shot as Grace Ramsdell, left, and Franny Ramsdell move in on defense for Wells during the B South semifinal Thursday at Cross Insurance Arena. (Portland Press Herald photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette)

“We’ve only had one Class B game this year that’s gone to single digits,” Andreasen said after Saturday’s 42-31 win over Freeport. “So when Wells made their run on us the other day, we froze a little bit. Today, I don’t want to say we froze at any point, but there was clearly some pressure on us. But that’s what you’re going to see (in the tournament). No matter what happened in the regular season, once you get to the semifinals, the records are really out the window. It comes down to executing.”

“I think talent has something to do with it. Obviously, you can’t win without it,” he added. “But I think to be able to play in this environment, you can’t replicate it in the regular season.”

Andreasen made his comments before he knew the outcome of Saturday’s B North final, in which Mount Desert Island beat Waterville, 44-35, but believed his team having to sweat a little more in its last two games would help it execute on the big state championship stage next Saturday, regardless of opponent.

The Patriots would do well to replicate the way they started in each of the last two games, too, although they did each one in a different fashion.

Against Wells, they shot lights out from the outside. Bri Jordan and Eliza Hotham led a barrage of 3-pointers that helped them build a 24-14 halftime lead before holding off a late Warrior charge for a 48-34 win.

Against Freeport, they dominated the paint early, collecting more offensive rebounds (six) than the Falcons did points in a 17-2 first quarter.

“The more the game changes, the more it stays the same, in my opinion. You control the paint, you control the outcome,” Freeport coach Seth Farrington said. “And guess who controlled the paint in the first half — defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds, second chances.”

Regardless of how they attack MDI early in the state game, the Patriots will have experience on their side again when they tip off. It will be GNG’s third state championship game in the last four years. While MDI is a senior-laden team, including four captains who start, the Trojans hadn’t gotten past the regional quarterfinals in the last four years.

Omnipresent Viking

Julia Colby has won a lot this season.

Oxford Hills’ Julia Colby looks to shoot after driving the baseline against Deering’s Elizabeth Drelich during the AA North final at Cross Insurance Arena on Friday. (Portland Press Herald photo by John Ewing)

The Oxford Hills junior was named the Class AA North girls player of the year after the regular season and was named the “Red” McMann Award winner as the top-player of the regional tournament.

Colby diverts the attention back to her team, however. Directly after winning the McMann Award, Colby was asked about what it means to win the award but said was more excited about the win.

“It feels really good,” Colby said. “But I am just happy we won.”

She’s not the highest-scoring player in the region, sometimes not even on her own team, but Colby does everything.
She’s everywhere on defense. Just look at the highlights of the AA North final against Deering, where she recorded nine rebounds, two steals in conjunction with her 14 points.

Always in a passing lane, always there to get a rebound, always finding ways to score or get to the line,  Colby is what stirs the Vikings’ drink.

But Oxford Hills has other players that more than help out. Against Deering, Cecilia Dieterich scored eight points with a couple of steals, while Margaret Hartnett hit three 3-pointers.

The Vikings, as well as Scarborough, their AA final opponent, both return all but two players next year and look primed for a long run of success.