AUGUSTA, Maine- On the final night of the high school basketball season, the state title game in Class C boys featured two of the best defensive teams on the hardwood. In the end, the Winthrop Ramblers put three players in double figures led by a game high 16 points from Cam Hachey to pull away from the Dexter Tigers 51-41 Saturday night at the Augusta Civic Center.
Jevin Smith and Ryan Baird opened the game with hoops for Winthrop for a 4-0 lead. It took Dexter almost four minutes to score their first basket when Haedyn Guenther scored inside. Will Kusnierz gave the Tigers their first lead 9-8, before Hachey buried a three-pointer late in the first to give Winthrop an 11-9 advantage after the opening eight minutes. Hachey hit his second three-pointer early in the second quarter for a five point (14-9) lead, before Brett Kusnierz hit a three and Nathan Richards scored a hoop to tie it 14-14. Smith and Noah Grube restored a four point Ramblers lead, but Cameron Paige, Guenther, and Richards led a 6-0 Dexter run for a 20-18 Tigers lead at intermission.
The third quarter was very back and forth with two ties and five lead changes. Winthrop took the lead for good 29-27 on a Hachey basket, as the Ramblers finished the period on a 9-2 spurt to take a 34-29 lead to the final quarter. Dexter cut it to five on a three-pointer from B. Kusnierz at 37-32, but the response from Winthrop was baskets from Smith, Ian Steele, 1-2 from the line from Baird, and then a three-pointer from Hachey to open it up to 45-32. A three point play by B. Kusnierz and a Richards basket would cut the deficit to 45-37 with 2:30 left, but the eight point difference was as close as the Tigers would get. Winthrop hit 6-8 from the foul line down the stretch to ice their second straight state championship.
Hachey had four three-pointers in the Winthrop win, scoring 10 of his game high in the second half. Smith finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Baird had 11 points and seven rebounds. Also chipping in was Steele with six points (all in second half), Grube who had four points and seven rebounds, and Brad Bourne chipped in a free throw for one point. The Ramblers outrebounded the Tigers 28-17, and shot 14-27 from the line. Winthrop finishes their second straight state title season with a record of 21-1.
Richards led Dexter in the loss with 13 points. B. Kusnierz finished with 12 points. Also contributing was W. Kusnierz, Parker Ponte, and Guenther with four points a piece, while Paige and Avery Gagnon added two points each. The North regional champion Tigers shot 4-9 from the line and finish a fantastic season with a record of 21-1.
DEX (21-1) 9 11 9 12- 41
WIN (21-1) 11 7 16 17- 51
