WINSLOW — Almost every high school basketball team has that one player you want to shut down. The guy who, if you can keep him off the scoreboard, you have a chance. Saying you’re going to stop a guy and doing it are two different things, however. On Tuesday night, the Maranacook and Winslow boys basketball teams each had a player in mind to clamp down on defensively. Each team was successful, to a point, and secondary scorers took the opportunity to step up.

For Maranacook, Joey Dupont and Tim Worster took on more offense when the Black Raiders clamped down on sharpshooting guard Cash McClure in the first half. While McClure finished with a team-high 22 points in Maranacook’s 69-60 win, he had just six points in a tight first half.

The tough job of defending McClure went to Winslow junior Holden Dart, whose primary focus was keeping McClure in front of him and unable to drive to the basket.

“You’ve got to try to keep (McClure) in front, and we did. Late in the game when we were gambling, he turned the corner, but Holden made him make jump shots off the dribble over him,” Winslow coach Ken Lindlof said. “He’s good enough and skilled enough to do that. We’ve kind of got to live with that, because he’s good and can score in bunches.”

For the Black Bears, everything defensively stemmed from containing Winslow senior Colby Pomeroy. In the first half, Pomeroy had just two points. Attacking the basket more in the third quarter, Pomeroy found a little offensive rhythm and finished with 14 points. Maranacook used a variety of defenses on Pomeroy, including a box and one. Whenever Pomeroy touched ball, two Black Bears were nearby.

“We did a couple different things. We did some of (box and one), but we really just tried to double him when he caught it. We tried to mix it up as much as we could and know where he was. Watching him play a couple times, he had 28 (points) one game we saw, and 25 in another. We just wanted to make sure we focused on him and made some other guys beat us,” Maranacook (6-2) coach Travis Magnusson said.

One of the guys who picked up the offensive slack for Winslow was freshman Jason Reynolds, who scored a career-high 24 points and was instrumental in keeping the Black Raiders (5-4) in the game. For Maranacook, Dupont scored 20 points, and Worster added 16. The Black Bears led 27-24 at the half, with Dupont and Worster combining for 17 points. When McClure started hitting shots from the perimeter in the third quarter, Maranacook was able to increase its lead into double digits.

“We’re a really good shooting team. They do a great job of clogging the paint. We didn’t hit early in the first quarter, but as the game went on, we did a good job of hitting from outside to open the game up a little bit,” Magnusson said.

Added Lindlof: “They present so many matchup problems. You’re trying to find guys who can help off their man, but they don’t give you a lot of those options. If you help off Dupont he’s going to score. If you help off Worster, he’s going to score. I thought our kids did a nice job of trying to make plays. You can’t really fault the effort, because that’s a really good team. They’re going to win a lot of games, and present a tough challenge for anybody.”

To Magnusson, Tuesday’s win was a good test for what the Black Bears will see down the road. If they continue to lock down an opponents top scorer, the Black Bears will be in good shape come tournament time in February.

“It’s one we wanted to make sure we got,” Magnusson said of Tuesday’s game. “We kept our composure, which is key for us. They’re a good team who we respect a lot, so winning here is big.”

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