WESTBROOK – Going into Monday’s boys basketball game at Westbrook, Gorham needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

After the first half, it looked like the Rams (2-9) were going to have a tough time coming away with that win as the score was tied at 23-23 going into the break. But Gorham blew the game open in the second half, clamping down on defense and turning up the offensive pressure to cruise to a 51-32 win over the Blue Blazes (4-7).

The win helped keep the Rams in the hunt for a playoff berth. As of Wednesday morning, Gorham was in 12th place in the Class A West Heal Points, with the top 11 teams making the playoffs. Westbrook sits just ahead of the Rams, clinging to 11th place and the last playoff berth, 12 points ahead of the Rams.

Carter Bowers was the offensive leader for Gorham, as he hit for a game-high 15 points, 12 of those points coming in the second half. Alex Owens added 12 for Gorham and Nick Kilborn pumped in 10. Three players led the Blazes in scoring, with Keenan Lowe, Nguot Nguot and Will Batherson each hitting for seven points in the contest.

After the game, Gorham coach Ryan Chicoine said that the Rams made some changes in the locker room during the halftime break to deal with the full-court press that Westbrook employed in the first half and those changes led directly to the win.

“A big thing was we changed our defense up,” Chicoine said. “(Westbrook’s) a good team, they’re scrappy. They had us with that press for a little while there, but we made adjustments at halftime. We changed our press break and started to get some easy baskets, which really helped us out in the second half.”

The first half was a back-and-forth battle as the two teams traded the lead back and forth, with neither team getting more than a six-point advantage. Westbrook’s pressure started to pay dividends about midway through the second quarter as the Blazes were able to keep the Rams off balance and force turnovers that led to points.

With about three minutes to go before halftime, Lowe almost single-handedly turned a two-point Gorham lead into a two-point lead for the Blazes. First, Lowe forced Owens to mishandle the ball deep in the Rams’ end and he was able to scoop up the loose ball and score. Then, on the ensuing Gorham possession, Lowe made another steal and with 2:23 left to go, the Blazes worked the ball back around to Lowe, who drained a 3 to put Westbrook on top 21-19.

Kilborn put Gorham on top 23-21 with a layup with just over a minute left before the half and Lowe hit a fall away with 44 seconds left to tie it back up going into the half.

Things stayed tight for a while in the third and Westbrook even took a 30-29 lead off a Batherson runner with 2:49 to go in the quarter. But Gorham came storming back and got big hoops from Owens, Kyle Nealy and a free throw from Nate Moody to give the Rams a 34-30 lead after three.

The wheels really came off for Westbrook in the fourth as Gorham went on a 17-2 run to turn a close game into a blowout.

Blazes’ coach Mark Karter said he was disappointed with the way things went in the late stages of the game, but he was trying to look on the bright side. “I don’t think there’s anyplace to go but up,” Karter said. “We’ll come back in (to practice) and we’ll work hard this week. We’ve got a tough couple games ahead of us and we’ll see what we’re made of here.”

As for his team’s playoff chances, Karter acknowledged that losing to the Rams hurts, but the Blazes still control their destiny. “This one tonight would have helped out a lot,” Karter said. “We’ve still got a long way to go, we have a couple winnable ones that we can go get, so hopefully we can get better and see what we can do.”

In regard to the Rams, Chicoine said that while the team has put itself in a hole when it comes to the postseason, they are getting some help as injured players return to the lineup as the season winds down, and that should provide a boost. “We’re starting to get healthy, we’re starting to get a little continuity,” he said. “We had some injuries earlier on in the year and we’ve got to make a run here.”

Westbrook’s Keenan Lowe, who was one of three Blazes with seven
points on the night, goes up for a layup in front of Gorham’s Dan
Holmes on Monday night. (Staff photo by Mike Higgins)
Westbrook’s Joe Quinlan gets down low to defend against Gorham’s
Carter Bowers on Monday. (Staff photo by Mike Higgins)