GARDINER — Nason Lanphier had an up-close view of his teammate Justin Martin’s monster performance on opening night and a full week to let it stir around in his brain.

Friday night against Gardiner, Lanphier whipped up a dominating performance of his own.

Lanphier, a senior guard, scored 29 points and collected five rebounds and five steals to lead Winslow to a 78-55 win over Gardiner.

The ultra-quick Lanphier scored 26 of those points through the first three quarters, including 10 in Winslow’s 25-point second quarter and 11 more in a 21-point third as the Black Raiders shook off some early rust to pull away.

“We make each other better. We both want to be the best so we both compete to be the best,” Lanphier said of his relationship with his fellow senior, Martin, who had 30 points and 20 rebounds in Winslow’s 73-57 win over Maranacook last week.

“He’s a great player. He’s the best player on our team. He can go off for 30 any night,” Lanphier added. “I’m thankful if I can go for 30 at least one time.”

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Lanphier might have reached the 30-point plateau Friday night if not for Winlsow’s effectiveness at both ends in the middle quarters.

Gardiner (2-1) opened the second quarter with an 8-0 run to pull to within 18-16. After Winslow (2-0) took a time out, Colby Robertson (13 points) drilled a 3-pointer to send the Black Raiders on a 21-6 run that put the lead into double digits for good.

“We just started to click offensively,” Winslow coach Jared Browne said. “We ran one of our basic sideline out of bounds plays, got Colby open for a shot, and he knocked it down. Once we got our execution down, everything else started to click.”

Martin followed Robertson’s trey with one from the top of the key. Jordan Lamb and Brad Weston answered for Gardiner with layups to make it a five-point game, but Robertson drilled another three off a Lanphier steal.

Lanphier followed with a runner in the lane and a pull-up jumper off a spin move before Keanu Earle added a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 39-22 Winslow.

“Coach told us we were playing soft on defense the first part of the game, so we knew we had to turn it up,” Lanphier said. “Justin Martin was frustrated with the way he was playing but he really stepped it up on defense. He was really the reason why we won, because he shut down Seth McFarland.”

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While his numbers didn’t match last Friday’s output, Martin (19 points, 17 rebounds) still had a major impact on the game. Browne assigned his 6-foot-6 center to guard the 6-foot-1 swingman McFarland (10 points), the Tigers’ top scorer, and Martin’s wingspan and quickness limited McFarland’s penetration and open looks.

“He’s athletic enough and long enough that he can defend guys that are as good and as quick as McFarland,” Browne said. “We wanted other guys to beat us. Weston had a big game for them, but we asked Martin to do his job and it took them out of the flow of what they wanted to do.”

“Seth was just getting one look every third trip. I think we do have to get him some more shots,” Gardiner coach Jason Cassidy said. “Going into halftime, he only had four shots, and Martin obviously was a factor on that.”

With Martin following McFarland on the perimeter, Weston (16 points) had room to work in the paint, and his layup pulled the Tigers to within 43-29 early in the third quarter. But that was as close as they would get. Lanphier answered with a 3-pointer and Martin a putback to widen the margin back to 20.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33


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