SOUTH BERWICK — Ryan Camire didn’t score as many points as usual on Tuesday night. But when his team needed him, the kid they call “Paco” was there to score the big ones.

Camire knocked down four pressure-packed free throws in the final 36 seconds to preserve Sanford’s slender lead, and the ninth-ranked Spartans survived as Marshwood missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull out a 52-49 victory over the eighth-ranked Hawks in a Western Class A preliminary round encounter.

Camire, averaging more than 22 points a game, and scorer of 31 and 26 during two regular-season meetings with Marshwood ”“ was held to 17 Tuesday as the Hawks seemed determined not to let the senior guard beat them.

But in the end, he still did.

“I’ve practiced and done that so many times, just simulated that through your head,” Camire said of his four crucial free throws, which came in one-and-one situations, near the end of the game. “You’ve just got to trust that you’re going to make it, all the repetition you do over the years, it just carries over.”

“Other than Bonny Eagle’s Dustin Cole, Camire goes to the free-throw line more than anybody else,” said Sanford coach Paul Nolette. “He led the league in free-throw percentage, and we knew that’s where we wanted to go, and I’m sure they knew that’s where we wanted to go. But we were able to get him the ball, and of course, he did what he does.”

As big as a playoff victory is, the night was even more special for Camire, who scored his 1,000th career point on a 3-pointer with 1:20 left in the third quarter to give Sanford (11-9) its first lead of the game, 37-36, and send the large Spartans road crowd into a frenzy.

“It was just one of those moments that you work your whole life for, and when it comes, you’re just so excited,” Camire said. “It was good, but more importantly, we won the game.”

That win didn’t look likely initially as the Hawks (9-10) led throughout the first half, holding Camire scoreless in the first quarter thanks to blanket defense from Jack Letellier.

But the game turned in Sanford’s favor early in the third quarter when Marshwood center Brady Innes, scorer of 10 first-half points, picked up his fourth foul just 24 seconds in, was forced to sit the remainder of the quarter.

Sanford took immediate advantage, holding the Hawks scoreless in the final six minutes of the quarter, while Camire scored seven, including the big 3, as the Spartans took a 41-36 lead into the fourth.

“Especially in that third quarter, we were able to lock them down, and they scored only four points,” Nolette said. “And the big key of course was Innes getting that fourth foul to take away their inside presence.”

Marshwood clawed back to tie things up 46-46 with 3:43 to play, but an Alex Shain put-back with two minutes to play gave Sanford a two-point lead.

Riley Dodge hit one of two free throws to make it a one-point game, but Camire then hit the first pair of free throws to extend the edge back to 52-49. Dodge retaliated with a jumper, but Camire again came up clutch to knock down two more free throws and keep the Sanford lead three with 16 seconds to play.

After a timeout, Marshwood’s Drew Bartlett air-balled a 3 that would have tied the game, and Shain was sent to the line with 6.9 to play, and a chance to put the game away. The senior forward, however, missed the front end of a one-and-one.

The Hawks grabbed the rebound and raced down the floor, but Alex McLean’s running 3 at the buzzer clanked off the rim as Sanford avenged a five-point loss to the Hawks in the same round, in the same gym, from a year ago.

“Last year’s prelim was the exact same thing, just the roles were a little reversed,” Nolette said. “Last year, I think we kind of lost our composure late in the game and this year we didn’t.”

In addition to Camire’s game-high 17, Shain and Evyn Nolette both added nine points, and the Spartans got scoring from eight different players despite being without sixth-man Josh Schroder, who was ruled out with a concussion just hours before the game.

“It seemed like every kid we pulled off the bench was able to do a little something and give us a couple of minutes,” Nolette said. “We were able to rotate kids, and guys were able to come in and make some plays for us.”

The Spartans will look to continue their playoff run Friday night when they head to the Portland Expo to play top-seeded South Portland, whose head coach Phil Conley was on hand scouting Tuesday night. The Red Riots (15-3) beat Sanford 56-43 on Jan. 8, but showed they are beatable in a five-point loss to Cheverus (6-12) in their regular-season finale last Thursday.

Conversely, Camire said Sanford, now on a five-game winning streak, is starting to hit its groove at just the right time.

“We knew at the end of the season we were starting to have better practices, kids were picking it up and we’ve got something good coming,” he said. “Hopefully we can just keep doing what we’re doing and do what we’ve got to do.”

— Contact Cameron Dunbar at 282-1535, Ext. 323.