WINDHAM – The Windham boys basketball team faced arguably their toughest test of the season on Tuesday night when they took the court against the top-ranked Deering Rams (12-1) on their home court. Despite a fast start that saw the Eagles (3-10) jump out to an 11-3 lead, the Rams thoroughly dominated the remainder of the game, topping the Eagles 41-28. Jon Amabile lead the charge for the Rams, scoring a game-high 12 points while Eagles’ freshman Kevin Weisser scored 11.

Deering has relied on their defense all year to lead them to the top spot in the Western Maine Class A Heal Point standings. They have frustrated and out-sprinted nearly every opponent this year, with the one exception coming in their lone loss to the Cheverus Stags.

Windham’s frustration with Deering’s tenacity and defensive swagger boiled over with just 3:02 left in the contest.

After Deering’s Thiwat Thiwat wrestled briefly with Windham’s Jed Merrill, tempers erupted.

“It was just two competitive guys going at it,” said Eagle coach Kevin Millington. “We just tried to get (Merrill) out of there as fast as we could. I don’t think it was anything more than (the two teams being) competitive and us not being able to control our emotions.”

Thiwat and Merrill’s altercation, which brought both benches to their feet, came after Thiwat appeared to try and intimidate Merrill after a jump ball was called. Thiwat ripped the ball away and stood momentarily over Merrill. Merrill took exception and shoved Thiwat. Both received offsetting fouls, but Merrill was ejected following the scuffle.

The scrum came in the midst of a lengthy Eagle scoring drought that included a scoreless third quarter.

While the Rams were able to win in a fairly convincing manner, it appeared as though the Eagles were primed to pull off a stunning upset after the first quarter.

It was the Kevin and Dylan Weisser show in the first as the two combined for nine of the Eagles’ 11 first-quarter points-all courtesy of the 3-ball. Dylan knocked down one 3 while Kevin was able to knock down two to continue his excellent freshman campaign.

“(Kevin’s) young,” said Millington, “but he’s getting more confidence, he knows he belongs out there now and I think he’s going to be a really good player.”

After the Eagles soared to an 11-7 first quarter advantage, it was all Deering from that point forward.

Entering the second, the Rams looked to reverse their dreadful first quarter shooting as they turned to Amabile to jumpstart the offense. Amabile scored six of his 12 points in the second quarter during back-to-back possessions by knocking down two long-range 3s to put his team in front to stay.

Thanks to the sharp shooting of Amabile and strong play on the defensive boards, the Rams were able to take a 21-17 lead into halftime, which was still a manageable deficit for the Eagles to overcome in the second.

All hopes of a Windham comeback were thoroughly squashed when the teams took the court in the third quarter.

Amabile once again lead the way for Deering, scoring the remainder of his 12 points in the quarter while the Rams picked up their offensive tempo.

The Rams’ speed and athleticism appeared to finally take its toll on Windham, as they were unable to get anything going on the offensive end.

“Deering is extremely quick and that’s a tough match up for us,” said Millington. “If you look back on the other two games we played against quick teams (Portland and Bonny Eagle) it was over pretty quickly.”

The Eagles’ inability to generate anything on the offensive end made the loss even more disappointing, seeing as their coach felt that they played one of their better defensive games of the season.

“I was really proud of the way the team competed on defense,” said Millington. “We played well all night. On the offensive end, we just had a hard time getting into the offense. We can’t score 10 points, or really eight points, in the final few minutes and expect to win against the No. 1 Heal Point team in the standings.”

Aaron Murray’s 3-pointer with just 1:55 remaining in the fourth quarter ended a stretch of nearly 16 minutes that the Eagles were held without a field goal. The rest of Windham’s points came on free throws.

The Eagles’ loss to Deering was the fourth in the last 10 days against some of the conference’s toughest competition.

“We’ve had some tough games,” said Millington. “We just looked ourselves in the mirror and said win or lose we’ve got to do a better job of competing and having a little pride when we put the Windham jersey on.”

The Eagles will look to get back on track Saturday night when they host the 3-10 Kennebunk Rams.

Windham’s Matt McLean, shown here in a previous game, and rest
of the Windham boys basketball team had a tough time against
Deering on Tuesday night as the Eagles fell to the Rams, 41-28 to
slip to 3-10 on the season. (File photo)