WINSLOW — After breaking his arm in a football playoff game in November, Winslow sophomore Colby Pomeroy’s basketball season was a question mark. But Pomeroy was able to get back in the Black Raiders lineup after missing just four games, and on Thursday night against Maine Central Institute, his presence was a key for Winslow.

Pomeroy scored a game-high 19 points, including five free throws down the stretch, to help Winslow take an important Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference win over the Huskies, 60-50.

“Colby’s very versatile. He can play small forward, he can play two guard, he can play point guard. That really gives us quality depth. He can do a lot of different things, but he’s also a sophomore and makes mistakes,” Winslow coach Ken Lindlof said.

Winslow improved to 6-3, its fourth victory in five games. MCI dropped to 6-4.

Pomeroy said he was tentative when he first returned, but against the Huskies he was at ease and at 100 percent.

“It was nice being back. Second game back was when I started to feel it (against Oceanside),” Pomeroy said.

Winslow took the lead for good midway through the first quarter, and pushed it into double digits for the first time late in the second, when point guard Mike Wildes scored to make it a 25-15 game. While MCI cut into Winslow’s leads numerous times in the second half, the Huskies never got closer than five points, 53-48, with 1:13 to play. From there, the Black Raiders went 6 for 8 at the line to clinch the win.

“They present a lot of problems. You have to have intelligent help and channel the ball into places they’re not effective. We didn’t do a good job of that in the fourth quarter. We gave up too much middle penetration,” Lindlof said. “But fortunately we had a lead and we were able to take care of the ball and make some free throws.”

The Black Raiders did a nice job attacking the basket with penetration throughout the game. While the Black Raiders don’t have a player who matches up size-wise with MCI’s duo of Jose Montest Valverde or Vasilije Vojvodic, Winslow was quicker and able to find the open man for an open shot. That ball movement freed up outside shooters, and the Black Raiders sank six 3-pointers.

“Winslow played hard and made plays down the stretch. They played hard the whole game. I thought they handled us pretty well. I know we were competitive and we played it right to the end, but we just flat got outplayed tonight,” MCI coach Josh Tardy said. “I was not happy about that, from our perspective. I thought Wildes had a great game. He broke us down.”

Winslow had four players score in double figures. Along with Pomeroy, Jack Morneault had 11 points, while Jake Lapierre and Hunter Campbell each scored 10.

“We knew we had to finish around the rim. Our big guys did a good job against theirs,” Pomeroy said.

Owen Williams led MCI with 14 points, while Valverde added 13. Vojvodic grabbed 12 rebounds.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM