AUGUSTA — Mere weeks ago, the Cony boys basketball team was suffering from the holiday blues.

The Rams ended 2024 with a 2-5 record and in search of some momentum to rocket up the Class A North standings.

They have found that momentum in 2025.

Since Jan. 3, Cony has gone 4-1. That includes a 52-41 victory over Mt. Blue in a hard-fought Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A game on Friday night.

“We had a rocky start, but the guys are starting to jell together,” Cony coach Isaiah Brathwaite said. “The chemistry is starting to come along. And the practice makes the preparation, and they’re doing that really well.”

Junior Parker Morin led the Rams (6-6) with 24 points, while senior Keenan Clark scored 13 points and had seven rebounds. Senior forward Jordan Benedict added 10 points. The win moved Cony from the No. 6 spot in the A North Heal point standings to No. 4.

Cony's Keenan Clark, left, and Mt. Blue's Carter Norton rebound during a boys basketball game Friday in Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

“That’s big,” Morin said. “You only play them once, the Heal points really come in at the end. (That win) is big for us, I feel.”

Added Clark: “We knew it was going to be a low-scoring affair. We knew they played slow, and we wanted to play fast. Those are big (Heal) points.”

Nolan Leso led the Cougars (8-5) with 12 points, while Tyler Abell added eight.

Cony has shown an ability to beat the top teams in the conference — a 68-60 victory over No. 2 Brewer on Jan. 11, and a 65-53 win over No. 3 Hampden Academy on Dec. 23.

“It can be anybody (standing out) on any night, we’ve got a bunch of guys who can score,” Brathwaite said. “We have a lot more depth than we did last year, we’ve got guys who can come off the bench and score, too. We’re a lot bigger than we were last year, and we have a lot of shooters. We’ve put ourselves in a good spot. We just need to make sure it all clicks at the right time.”

The pieces have been there for Cony, starting with Morin, who can penetrate to the rim and hit a 3-pointer when needed. He also has shown an ability to take over a game. On Friday night, Cony scored just five points in the second quarter, but Morin nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Rams a 21-20 halftime lead. He scored 10 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter to seal the game.

“We really had to attack the gaps (in the second half),” Morin said. “You’re not going to beat a zone (defense) by passing the ball at the top of the key, you’ve got to attack the gaps. I feel like in the second half, we were able to get more downhill, get more open shots and open looks.”

Clark, new to the program this season after previously playing at Erskine Academy, has no trouble battling in the paint, both for points and rebounds.

“It’s good to have an ox (in the paint), and Keenan’s been a great addition to the team,” Brathwaite said. “It’s been good for us.”

The pair made life frustrating for Mt. Blue, which ran into foul trouble in the fourth quarter. Cony’s final eight points came at the free-throw line.

“We did all right, but we’re not handling the physicality (of the game) well,” said Mt. Blue coach Troy Norton. “The officials let both teams play tonight, and that just didn’t work well for us. We had way too many turnovers. Our defense is always pretty solid, but when you turn over the ball 20-plus times to a team, in their gym, you’re not going to win.”