Mt. Ararat's Logan Dubuc breaks toward the basket while being pursued by Brunswick's Logan Gray during the Eagles' 56-54 win on Thursday in Brunswick. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald
BRUNSWICK -- The Mt. Ararat boys basketball team needed a win.
With persistent and disruptive defense from start to finish the Eagles earned one in Brunswick on Thursday night. The fact that the 56-54 victory in a rivalry game on the road was only sweeter.
"Brunswick is a big game for us so it really feels like a momentum shifter for the season, winning this game," said Mt. Ararat senior guard Caleb Murphy. "Moving forward I think we really can have more confidence ... knowing that we can win games if we really go out there and play our best."
With 3.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Murphy poked the ball away from Brunswick's Brendan Shaw before he could get one last shot up as Mt. Ararat (3-6) snapped a three-game losing skid and secured its first win in 20 days.
Brunswick (4-6) has dropped five games in a row, including the second straight on the final possession. On Tuesday, the Dragons lost to Oceanside, 60-59.
"We need to learn how to win these games," said Brunswick coach Ben Clark. "We think we are good enough to do it, but at the end of the day you have to make plays. We make too many mistakes ... a lot of our mistakes were mental. We need to clean those up and we got to do it quickly because it doesn't get easier."
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Forcing mistakes was the name of the game for the undersized Eagles.
"We knew their size would get to us, but it did at times," Mt. Ararat coach David Dubreuil said. "We knew we just had to put a lot of ball pressure (on them) and force their guards, (to) make them play faster than they wanted to."
Along with seven points, Murphy led the team with five steals and three assists.
Senior forward Andrew Clemons lead the Eagles with 13 points and four steals.
"Our plan was to talk on defense," Clemons said. "Because without communication you can't know where other players are if you are being scrappy."
"We wanted to pressure them full court," Murphy added. "Not let them have any space and make sure once we doubled down on larger players, we recovered."
Four players in Brunswick starting lineup where 6-foot or taller, as opposed to two for Mt. Ararat.
The biggest problem down low was 6-foot-5 Trevor Gerrish, who scored 20 points and recorded 19 rebounds.
Junior guard Logan Gray added 10 points, while Shaw and Rylan Ley both scored five.
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filed under: brunswick dragons, mt ararat eagles, times record sports
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