AUGUSTA — When Winthrop’s Ben Allen played at the Augusta Civic Center as part of this winter’s Capital City Hoop Classic, it seemed like he couldn’t miss.

On Monday night, the whole Winthrop team seemed like that.

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The Winthrop High School defense swarms Madison’s Chase Malloy during a Western C quarterfinal game Monday night at the Augusta Civic Center.

The fourth-seeded Ramblers scored the game’s first 15 points and shot 61 percent over the first three quarters, cruising to a 74-34 victory over No. 5 Madison in a Western C boys basketball quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center.

“I think it’s just experience,” Winthrop coach Todd MacArthur said. “We came here last year. We may have lost in the first round, but we got that experience of playing on the floor. We just feel comfortable here now. There’s no more nerves. The guys were loose, and when we’re loose, we play well.”

“They shot the lights out right from the get-go,” Madison coach Jason Furbush said. “I knew they were a good shooting team. I didn’t think they were that good a shooting team. Probably Todd didn’t know they were that good a shooting team, either.”

Winthrop (16-3) moves on to the semifinals at 8:30 p.m., Thursday. Madison ends its season at 16-4. Jacob Hickey led Winthrop with 16 points, while Anthony Owens added 12 as a dozen different players scored for the Ramblers.

Winthrop began the game with two inside baskets by Owens and a long jumper by Allen for a 6-0 lead. Matt Sekerak added a three to make it 9-0, and it was 15-0 when Furbush called timeout with 3:22 to go in the first quarter.

“It’s just a lot of momentum — it was great,” Owens said. “It was a lot of teamwork. It took a long season, and it’s good to start out like that.”

The Ramblers eventually made 11 of their first 13 shots for a 25-4 lead in the first quarter. In case you think Madison is a team of defensive slouches, remember that Mountain Valley shot 11 of 49 from the floor in a preliminary round loss to the Bulldogs.

Madison staggered back into the game behind Derek LeBlanc, Nick Morales, and a few breakaway baskets. Madison’s last look at getting back into the game came with under two minutes to play in the first half. Winthrop was ahead 33-18, and the Bulldogs had the ball. A Madison basket, and the lead would be 13. Maybe a defensive stop and another basket, and it’s an 11-point game, and then who knows what could happen in the second half?

But Madison didn’t score on that possession, and Winthrop’s Dakota Carter made a three-point play at the other end. When Hickey sent home a three in the final seconds, the Ramblers went into the locker room with a 41-19 lead.

“Tournament time is about turnovers, and execution, and one-and-dones,” MacArthur said. “I think that’s just a case of executing, and making the most of that opportunity. Going into halftime, with that shot that Jacob hit — those were all executional plays that put you in a position to win, and my guys thrived on those tonight.”

After shooting 17 of 29 (59 percent) in the first half, Winthrop was 10 of 15 (67 percent) in the third quarter. The Ramblers opened the third quarter with an outside shot by Allen and two jumpers in the lane by Carter, and never looked back.

Winthrop emptied its bench in the fourth quarter, which meant senior Jacob Rioux got not only a pair of baskets off assists from Joe Fay and Andrew Pazdziorko, but a “Ja-cob Ri-oux” chant from the Winthrop student section. After some coaxing from the crowd, Fay tossed up a three at the buzzer. It banked in.

That nicely summed up the game for both teams, but not Madison’s season. The Bulldogs went from seven wins last winter to 16 this season.

“We’ve had a great season,” Furbush said. “Our kids have come to practice every day, worked hard. I wouldn’t bring another team to the Augusta Civic Center. I would’ve chose our team.”

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Matt_DiFilippo

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