YARMOUTH – Josh Britten was hoping for another typical game for the Yarmouth boys’ basketball team, doing what he could to beat Poland.

But it was a night of surprises for the Clippers, who scraped by the undermanned Knights 63-56 in a Western Maine Conference game Tuesday night.

First, moments after Britten opened the second half with a 3-pointer to push the Clippers’ lead to 36-27, Yarmouth Coach Adam Smith called a timeout.

What’s up, Coach? Fifteen seconds in, a nine-point lead, and a timeout?

Well, Josh, you just nailed your 1,000th career point.

“I had no idea I was that close to 1,000 until they announced it,” said Britten, who left the bench to hand the ball to his parents. “At halftime we talked about coming out flying, getting after it. Scoring that 1,000th point kind of gave everyone a little boost, and from there we buckled and got out with a win.”

That was just the beginning of the surprises, not all of them pleasant for the Clippers (8-1).

“Josh had an excellent game for us,” said Smith. “But for whatever reason we had probably one our worst efforts. “

When play resumed, it was clear Britten (25 points) wasn’t satisfied: He drove the lane to score the Clippers’ next five points over two minutes for a 41-27 lead to force a Poland timeout. For the first time all game, Yarmouth seemed to find a rhythm, however briefly.

“We came out sleeping, they took advantage of us and we never really recovered,” said Poland guard Logan Nichols. “We got as close as five and never came back any closer.”

The Knights (5-4) raised eyebrows with their performance, considering their weekend. First, they lost star senior forward Jacob Littlefield, likely for the season, to a broken right wrist suffered Friday night in a 61-49 loss to Cape Elizabeth. On Monday, they learned senior forward Drew Peterson will miss the rest of the season with a calcium deposit in his thigh

“It’s been a very emotional three or four days,” Coach Travis Tracy said. “For our guys to come in and play Yarmouth (like we did) shows how tough this group of kids is.”

Ricky Bryant led the charge with 27 points. Guard C.J. Martin and forward Josh Gary each added eight.

Despite Britten’s burst early in the third, Poland hung in, chiefly on Bryant’s 10 points in the period, including 4-of-5 shooting from the line. Yarmouth outscored Poland 23-19 in the quarter to head into the fourth ahead, 56-46. Poland refused to give in, outscoring the Clippers 10-7 in the quarter as Yarmouth went just 3 of 12 from the line.

“Defensively, I thought we definitely were a step slow and that’s very disappointing,” Smith said. “With that said, I think Poland took extra passes that really broke us down, and they knocked down shots when they had them. I thought they did a tremendous job.

“Fortunately we had enough turnovers that gave us opportunities that kept us in the lead when we needed it.”