BRUNSWICK — Early this season, it looked like the Biddeford boys would live or die by the 3-point shot. But the Tigers have shown in the past month they have other ways to win basketball games.

Defense was the difference Thursday night as Biddeford ran away with a 67-58 win over Brunswick in a Class A South game.

“Defense has been the biggest improvement so far this season,” Biddeford Coach Justin Tardif said. “I thought coming in we were going to be a pretty good 3-point shooting team, but the question was always, and I said this from day one, are we going to be able to win games where we are not shooting well, and we’ve been able to prove that a couple of times this season.”

The Tigers (12-3) limited the Dragons (11-5) to 10 points in the fourth quarter to roll to their seventh consecutive win and remain right behind unbeaten Greely in Class A South.

“We’ve had a lot of games where we’ve been able to play good half-court defense,” Tardif said. “That’s a big change. We had a stretch (tonight) where we went cold for a bit but were able to hang in there by playing good defense and just keep at it.”

Kyle Norton scored 19 points for Biddeford. DeSean Cromwell followed with 15, Carter Edgerton had 13 and Cody Saucier contributed 10.

Colby Bucknam led Brunswick with 13 points. Dawson Hebert followed with 12, and Jack Bates and Noah Cox each had 10.

The Dragons had to chase the Tigers for much of the game.

In the first quarter, Biddeford put together a 7-0 run to move into a 14-7 lead. Brunswick rallied to make it 20-20 early in the second and took the lead when Kyle Hanson sank a 3-pointer. But the Tigers reeled off nine consecutive points to make it 29-23.

The Dragons rallied again to pull into a 34-34 tie less than three minutes into the second half. Norton sank 4 of 5 free throws during a 40-second span to propel the Tigers into a 43-37 lead with 3:22 left in the third quarter. Brunswick managed to pull within 52-47 by the end of the quarter, but that was as close as it got.

“It’s kind of an oxymoron, but I thought our offense hurt our defense,” Brunswick Coach Todd Hanson said. “We were taking quick shots and we weren’t really being patient to get the great shot, and that allowed them to get into the flow and run up and down (the court). Once they get into transition, they run the floor really well and find the open man.”

The Tigers also sank nine 3-pointers, including three 3-pointers on successive trips down the floor in the final three minutes of the third quarter when the Dragons were trying to get back into the game.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who can shoot the 3,” Tardif said. “We usually have five guys on the floor who can knock it down when they’re open.”

Five players made 3-pointers for Biddeford.

Biddeford also sank 14 of 18 free throws. The Dragons sank just 1 of 7, missing all three of their foul shots in the fourth quarter.

“That’s the worst we shot from the line all year,” Hanson said.