OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The Old Orchard Beach boys basketball team’s schedule is filled with Class B schools and first-year head coach Mike Burke is hoping playing against bigger schools will help his team when playoff time rolls around.

The Class C Seagulls showed Thursday night that they could hang with Class B schools as they picked up a hard-fought 65-55 win over Poland.

“I think it will help going down the road, no question about it,” said Burke on Thursday’s win.

Poland used some pressure defense to take an early lead in the game, but a 3-pointer from sophomore Ian Regan would tie the game at 12-12 heading into the second quarter.

Regan would once again step up with a big 3-pointer in the second quarter to give the Seagulls a 25-24 lead at the break.

“At the end of the day, these guys will laugh, I mean he’s still a sophomore,” said Burke, who knows bringing Regan along will be key this season. “It’s nice to put guys in spots that aren’t afraid and the process is bigger than the product. We want to be playing our best basketball in February, so this is kind of a stepping stone to get there.”

Regan, who scored a team-high 16 points, was just happy to help his team pick up a big win.

“It’s a team game, it’s not all about me, it’s about my teammates and we played good tonight and it was a good win,” said Regan.

OOB’s upperclassmen would step up in the second half as seniors Erik Hogan, Zach Hirst and Sam Custeau combined for 26 of the Seagulls’ 40 points after the break.

The Seagulls, who had all five starters score at least nine points, went on a 7-0 run early in the third to take control and would hit 12- of-17 free throws in the second half to help secure the win.

Hogan, who finished the game with 13 points, was happy to prove some people wrong.

“It was huge for us going into a big stretch where we are playing a bunch of Class B teams … to get this one was just huge because on paper we probably weren’t supposed to win this game, but we pulled it out,” said Hogan, who helped OOB (3-1) outscore Poland 40- 31 in the final two quarters.

Hirst put up 11 points – including nine in the second half – and the standout believes the Seagulls’ offense, which is new this season under Burke, is coming along.

“It’s different, but I feel like it involves everyone more as a team and you don’t have to rely on one or two people to score. I feel like everyone has a chance to score in this offense,” said Hirst.

Part of the reason the OOB offense is working is because of all the pieces the Seagulls have to work with.

“The mix is really incredible. Those guys, I don’t know if they’ve played together a ton, so that’s going to be important down the road … senior leadership and mixing in the juniors and sophomores, we are just trying to get there with that team chemistry,” said Burke.

The Seagulls believe in one another, according to Hirst.

“It’s huge,” said Hirst of having several players who can score. “I mean, I feel confident passing them the ball … I’m just confident that they can do good things with the ball.”

Hirst believes Thursday night’s win will help the Seagulls when it comes to playoff positioning.

“It was definitely huge,” said Hirst of the win. “I know coming in they were 3-1 and I think they are going to win some games and get us some points.”

Hogan knows playing in a tough game like Thursday’s clash will help OOB get ready for the postseason.

“It helps us a lot playing these Class B teams because once we get to the tournament, it’s nothing we haven’t seen yet,” said Hogan.

Burke has turned his attention to Saturday’s matchup with a tough Lake Region team, which currently sits at 3-1 in the Class B standings. One thing the OOB coach knows his team will need to improve on is breaking the press, which Poland used to force several turnovers on Thursday night.

“Teams that are a little bit bigger and a little bit more physical, you have to be more precise with what you do,” said Burke. “Obviously, we have some things to work on, but it’s nice to get this (win) going into Lake. Lake Region is a very good ball club and they are going to play 84 feet too, so we have to figure that out in the next 48 hours.”

NOTES: Custeau added 14 points and Evan Christensen chipped in with nine in the win … Poland was led by John Fossett, who scored a game-high 19 points in the loss … Saturday’s OOB game at Lake Region is setfora7p.m.start.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @ JournalTsports.