Boys basketball: Well-rounded effort leads Monmouth Academy past rival Winthrop

WINTHROP — It took some strong second quarter defense, and some closing by Sam Calder, but the end result was positive for the Monmouth Academy boys basketball team.

Calder, a senior forward who scored his 1,000th career point last week, finished with 20 points as the Mustangs beat rival Winthrop 54-46 in a Mountain Valley Conference matchup at Poulin Gym.

”It felt great,” Calder said. “It’s always great to beat the rival.”

Freshman guard Levi Laverdiere scored 14 points for the Mustangs (8-2), while senior guard Kyle Palleschi added nine points.

Juniors Carter Rivers and Cole Bard led the Ramblers (6-5) with 11 points each. Junior guard Braden Branagan added 10 points for Winthrop.

Both teams battled in the first quarter, with Monmouth holding a 12-10 lead. The Mustangs locked down in the second quarter, holding Winthrop to just two points to head into halftime with a 26-12 lead.

“Any time you hold a varsity basketball team to two points in a quarter (it’s good),” said Monmouth head coach Wade Morrill. “We’ve done that to some teams this year. We’ve got some guys who work really hard on defense in practice. When we want to play it, we can get after it some.”

“We knew (Winthrop) was going to come hard at us with their usual man defense,” Calder said. “We knew we just had to stay calm, limit the turnovers and push the pace.”

The Ramblers fought back in the second half, outscoring the Mustangs by a 34-28 margin. Rivers and Branagan each scored 10 points in the half, and sophomore forward Chan Ring was an asset on defense, collecting eight blocks.

Winthrop’s Carter Rivers, left, defends Monmouth’s Aiden Oliveira as Winthrop coach Todd MacArthur watches during a boys basketball game Wednesday in Winthrop. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

“That’s one thing about our group, we won’t quit,” Winthrop head coach Todd MacArthur said. “We’ll play hard for four quarters. We want to win, we just don’t know how to win yet in those big games. We’re trying to learn how to do that, but we’ve got to figure out how to make winning plays when it matters.”

“Winthrop almost Winthroped us there (in the second half),” Morrill said. “Coach MacArthur and his boys, we know they’re always a second half team, they’re always going to get up late in the game on you. You just have to be ready. We had just enough smart plays to keep that lead in that 7-10 (point) range, and that was huge.”

Monmouth answered back with the play of Calder, who scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half. Laverdiere contributed offensively with eight points in the second half.

“(Calder) is a big time finisher in big time games,” Morrill said. “He’s a special player for a reason. Teams beat him up every night. Off the ball, they’re grabbing him. He never complains, he doesn’t whine. He doesn’t show any emotion to the officials. He just plays ball.”

With the win, the Mustangs moved into second place in the Class C South standings, trailing only Richmond (10-0).