WESTBROOK — No Cumberland County blues, no double-overtime hangover.

The Thornton Academy boys basketball team, who suffered from a double-overtime loss to South Portland on Jan. 15, and entered its game with Westbrook with one win in four contests against grueling Cumberland County opponents, took out its frustrations on the Blue Blazes with a 48-44 win on Thursday night.

And while the Golden Trojans saw offensive production from the usual suspects, Thornton downed Westbrook with defense, and lots of it.

“That was the best team basketball we’ve played, defensively and offensively, all year,” Thornton head coach Robert Davies said. “When you play team basketball, you always give yourself a shot to win, and we came out on top tonight.”

It was a much needed win for the Trojans (7-3), who finish a respectable 2-3 in their five games against future playoff opponents in Deering, Cheverus, Scarborough, South Portland and Westbrook. The win over the Blazes should give Thornton a boost in the MPA Standings. Westbrook (7-3) entered the game in fourth place in Western Class A, while the Trojans were ranked fifth.

It was a good rebound for Thornton who lost 82-78 to South Portland on Jan. 15 in double-overtime, even with forward Andrew Shaw hitting a school-record 46 points.

“We had [the South Portland game] in control at halftime,” Shaw said. “We were up by 19. But we played awful defense, they ended up scoring 82 points on us, which is unacceptable. So we knew we had to come into this game and play better defense, and we held them to 41 points without that last second [3-pointer]. Forty-one is half of 82, so it’s a lot better defensive effort, and we need to keep having efforts like that if we’re going to be successful the rest of the way.”

Davies didn’t anticipate the loss to linger against Westbrook.

“I think we forgot about that game 10 minutes after it,” Davies said. “That’s what we tell our kids. We’ve got to treat victory and defeat the same, it doesn’t last long. We’ve got a game tomorrow night, so this victory is good to get, but we’ve got to look to what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

It seemed things were going to go south in a hurry for Thornton in the first quarter, as shooting problems kept the Trojans to only four points in the period, while Westbrook took a 13-4 lead. However, Thornton guard James Ek and Shaw both found their scoring touch in the second quarter, and were able to keep the game within reach at halftime as the Blazes kept a 25-18 lead.

A brand new Thornton team hit the court to start the second half. Ek started the scoring off with a 3-pointer, and with help from Shaw and guard Justin Pollard, the Trojans began to create turnovers on the vaunted Westbrook offense, led by forward Sean Murphy, who scored a team-high 13 points, 12 of which came on 3-pointers.

“Westbrook played one heck of a game,” Davies said. “Our hats are off to them.”

Ek led the Trojans with a game-high 15 points, while Shaw added 12 and Pollard chipped in with 10.

Before long, the Trojans, who trailed the entire first half, tied the game 31-31 with a minute to go in the third quarter. Shaw hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Trojans its first lead of the game, 34-31, heading into the fourth quarter.

Not even a cascade of heckling from the Westbrook student section could stop the Trojans, who projected most of their hatred (some downright ugly at times) down upon both Shaw and Ek.

“I’m not a real fan favorite here, there’s some personal issues,” Shaw said. “But that’s out of the game. They’re going to say what they want to say. As long as we win, I’m fine.”

Defense highlighted the fourth for Thornton. Pollard and guard Corbett Smith proved vital to the defensive output, while both Shaw and Ek kept the scoring going on offense to lengthen the Trojans lead. Midway through the quarter, Thornton enjoyed a 44-37 lead. Westbrook could do little but foul the Trojans and send them to the foul line, and Thornton sailed to the 48-44 win.

With the Cumberland County games now out of the way, the Trojans can again enjoy feasting on York County competition, starting today with a 7 p.m. matchup at home against Marshwood. In the coming week, the Trojans play the Hawks – who are seventh in the standings and boast a 6-4 record – before playing Kennebunk and Noble, who have a combined 4-16 record.

Davies said defense will be key for Thornton down the stretch.

“You’ve got to play defense to win, hopefully we can keep it going,” Davies said.

Shaw reiterated the same message.

“It’s all about team defense,” Shaw said. “From here on out, if everybody steps up like they did, we had guys like Corbett Smith, who played awesome defense there. James [Ek] really stepped forward, got a lot of steals. Pollard played awesome and had some breakaway layups. This was probably one of the best games we played all year, it was a good win for us.”

— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 ext. 318.