WESTBROOK — It was a tale of two halves for Thornton in its SMAA boys basketball matchup against Westbrook Tuesday night. Unfortunately for the Trojans, the story didn’t have a happy ending, as they were held to just 17 points in the second half of a 67-46 loss at Westbrook High School.

The Trojans went toe-to-toe with the taller Blue Blazes for the first 16 minutes of the game, despite missing their 6-foot-6 center Malcolm Dopwell.

Thornton took its first lead of the game by winning the battle on the perimeter. Jeff Gelinas and Quinn Richardson-Newton hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Trojans a 10-9 lead midway through the first.

Gelinas hit another 3 and converted and made a three-point play to pace the Trojans with nine points in the quarter.

Westbrook got 10 combined points from their bigs inside, David Breunig and Alec Hazelwood, but the Trojans held an 18-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Gelinas gave the Trojans an inside presence in the second quarter, converting two more three-point plays to put pressure on Breunig and Hazelwood. Gelinas’ second three-point play of the quarter made it 25-25 with three minutes to go in the half before Westbrook hit back-to-back 3-pointers.

“I always try and get my defender in the air, and then go at him and get the and-1,” Gelinas said about his propensity for getting the old-fashioned, three-point play.

The Trojans closed to within two at the end of the first half, with Gelinas drawing a charge on Hazelwood to prevent a layup with 1.4 seconds left.

The same Thornton team that fought the Blue Blazes evenly in the first half, didn’t show for the second. Westbrook got a quick basket to start the third quarter, but Evan Wright tied it up at 33-33 on a steal and layup the other way, followed by two free throws. But after that, the Trojans went cold.

Westbrook ran a zone that kept the Trojans from finding open shots, so they began to force bad ones, and didn’t make them, Gelinas said.

“We weren’t hitting our shots. They were playing good defense, too, which had a lot to do with it,” he said.

On the other end of the court, Thornton tried to stop the Blue Blazes’ bigs, only to watch guards Zack Bean and Aquoi Alexander each make two 3-pointers.

“They move the ball well. They put the ball inside, kicked it out, swung it around, hit the open guy and played very unselfish,” Thornton head coach Bob Davies said.

Westbrook’s Chris Connolly hit a long baseline jumper at the buzzer, and suddenly it was 51-38 heading into the fourth quarter.

Richardson-Newton started the quarter off on the right foot for Thornton, as he stole the inbounds pass and took it the other way, completing the three-point play with a free throw. But after that, the Trojans were held scoreless for 5:30, and didn’t score again until the game was decided and most of the substitutes were playing.

“They got some separation. And a couple times, we took some quick shots because they got some separation. We got a couple young kids that can’t hit and tried to get it all back in one shot. And the separation gets bigger,” said Davies.

Gelinas and Richardson-Newton, who combined for 26 first-half points, were held to just the three points scored by Richardson-Newton in the second half.

Breunig led Westbrook with 15 points, and Bean had 13, all in the second half.

“We battled. All the kids battled,” Davies said. “We just got beat tonight.”

The loss ended Thornton’s seven-game win streak and prevented the Trojans from gaining valuable heal points on the SMAA hierarchy. The Trojans now sit at 9-6, while Westbrook improved to 11-3.

— Contact Wil Kramlich at 282-1535, Ext. 323 or follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.