WINTHROP — For a young team, it’s never too early to build confidence with a signature win.
Old Orchard Beach turned an ugly shooting night into an improbable, 50-45 come-from-behind victory over Winthrop in a Class C matchup Thursday night at Convery Gymnasium.
The Gulls (3-1) drained 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions in a span of 34 seconds in the first minute of the fourth quarter, erasing a 15-point deficit to pull with two points. That was all the momentum the visitors would need, putting an 0 for 21 stretch from beyond the arc through three quarters behind them.
“We’re super inexperienced. The whole starting lineup is new,” said junior guard Brady Plante, who led the Gulls with 14 points. “It’s really just about trying to get confidence and find our groove.”
Winthrop (2-1) tried to rally behind big man Cole Bard, whose free throws with 2:55 remaining handed the Ramblers their final lead of the night at 41-40.
The Gulls answered with a Levi Perrone bucket at the other end, handing them lead they would never relinquish. Derek Webber and Riley Provencher seven free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Winthrop coach Todd MacArthur said. “The first half, we did a good job on backside rotations and we were able to get rebounds, which led to our transitions. In the second half, they made more shots and we missed more … rebounds, so we never got the opportunity to get out and run. We’re a much better team in transition than we are in the half (court).
“Honestly, that was the difference in the game.”
After connecting on 12 of 51 shots overall from the floor through three quarters, Old Orchard shot 6 of 13 (46.2 percent) in the final period to come alive.
“At the start of the season we felt like if we shoot and miss, we’re letting our team down. That’s just not the case,” Plante said. “Coach tells us to just keep firing and they’re going to go down, and we kept shooting. We were able to knock them down. It’s just a great comeback win, a great team win.”
Old Orchard trailed 33-18 at halftime, having shot 21.6 percent from the floor in the first half. Winthrop recovered from an early turnover bug to go on a 20-5 run, overlapping the first and second quarters, to build its big halftime lead.
But in the second half, the turnovers returned for Winthrop and its shooters cooled off.
The Ramblers managed just 12 points after the break — including a 3-pointer by Braden Branagan (9 points) with 12.3 seconds to play.
“We take a lot of pride defensively,” Plante said. “We’re not the biggest team, but we’re fast, we’re athletic and we’re going to outwork you all 32 minutes.”
Trot Moody added 13 points for Old Orchard, including two 3-pointers as part of the Gulls’ early torrid fourth-quarter stretch. Webber finished with 10.
Bard led the Ramblers with 17 points and 14 rebounds in a double-double night.
“We’ve got to be committed to doing the small things that matter,” MacArthur said. “Right now, we’re not a team that values the small things in the game of basketball. That’s the difference between winning and losing.”
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