GRAY — After needing a double-digit fourth-quarter comeback in its first meeting with Yarmouth, Gray-New Gloucester had a much easier go of it on Tuesday. 

The Patriots took a solid lead into halftime and cruised to a 60-41 victory over the Clippers.  

Nicholas Kariotis scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds while notching two blocks and two steals in Gray-NG’s win. The senior carried his team in the first quarter and helped the Patriots pull away in the third quarter.  

“Nick K is one of the more versatile bigs in the state,” Gray-NG coach Ryan Deschenes said. “He can do it all. He can run the floor, finish inside and he’s been a very good interior defender this year, and he switches out and can defend guards. He fits perfect with our schemes and I’m really pleased and excited for him because he has put a lot of work in and is kind of doing everything for us.” 

Kariotis scored six points in the first frame to help the Patriots keep the game tied at 11-11 heading into the second. He also assisted on a basket, pulled down three rebounds and tallied a block and a steal in the first. It’s all a part of his game, according to Kariotis.  

“I just try to do everything I can,” Kariotis said. “I have a little bit of everything and I just try to do whatever I can, really. Whatever comes my way I’ll step up and I’ll do it.” 

Yarmouth’s Peter Psyhogeos scored four of his team-high nine points in the first quarter.  

Nicklaus Pelletier began the second quarter with an old-fashioned three-point play for Gray-NG. Pelletier went on to finish with 14 points.  

The Patriots started to drive to the basket every opportunity they got, leading to point guard Wyatt Kenney scoring three times in the second to help the Patriots take a 27-20 lead into halftime.  

“One thing we had to focus on was coming out of the gate explosive and with a lot of energy because over there we were down 15 in the fourth quarter, so we had to work for that win,” Kariotis said. “That was our emphasis, to come out hard.” 

Gray-NG went on an 11-2 run to start the third quarter, which was created from drives to the basket and passes to shooters on the 3-point line. On the defensive end, the Patriots kicked the effort up a notch. 

“I think our pressure picked up and we were able to make them uncomfortable,” Deschenes said. “We had pretty good pressure in the first half but we had some late rotations and that’s probably where they scored half their points. I think we did a better job with our rotations and our defense turned to offense, and we scored quickly and in a hurry.” 

Yarmouth scored a couple baskets late, but the damage was already done.  

“We turned the ball over a lot, and when you’re not getting shots then that’ll make your offense look like it is sputtering,” Yarmouth coach Jonas Allen said. “We are missing some key guys, no excuses, but we are missing some key guys to the flu, so a lot of guys were playing a lot of minutes that aren’t used to being on the court. Gray-New Gloucester did a good job and that’s what Ryan does. He is a fantastic defensive-trapping coach, and when you have a lot of guys on the court that don’t have a ton of experience then that’s what that equals.” 

The Gray-NG crowd grew louder with each made basket and by the end of the quarter the Patriots held 100 percent of the momentum.  

“I like that in this game it felt like we were working as a team more,” Kariotis said. “In the first one we came out flat and kind of doing our own thing. That’s the reason we weren’t scoring because we didn’t move the ball to get the best shot we could.”