WINTHROP — Coach Todd MacArthur said Winthrop was well aware of how strong unbeaten Mt. Abram has been at offensive rebounding heading into Wednesday’s boys basketball matchup.

Although the Ramblers lost by four points, 49-45, they gave Mt. Abram its tightest game of the season and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds to the Roadrunners’ 10.

Mt. Abram (11-0) coach Jeff Pillsbury noted that the Ramblers (5-5) also held the Roadrunners top scorers, such as Brennan Mitchell and Bryce Wilcox, below their season averages.

“First off, Winthrop’s very well-coached,” Pillsbury said. “These kids are competitors, and so we knew it was going to be a dog fight. They defended us, they turned us over, they kept our bigs off the board, and they did what they needed to do.”

How did they do it?

Mt. Abram started with an aggressive defensive press in order to force turnovers. It worked well, until Mitchell found himself in early foul trouble and sat out the entire second quarter. Pillsbury said the defense then switched to 1-3-1 half-court and full-court press variations to continue to pressure Winthrop while avoiding further foul trouble.

Key moment

Winthrop made a charge in the third quarter. The offense generated some heat and the Ramblers took the lead for the first time in the third. They led by as many as five points, but the Roadrunners bounced back and ended the quarter with the same one-point lead they had at halftime. Then, in the fourth, Mt. Abram outscored Winthrop 15-12.

Mitchell said the key to Wednesday’s win is the same as the key to Mt. Abram’s unbeaten start.

“We play very unselfish,” Mitchell said. “We all pass the ball, we all score, we all rebound. We’ve got two very good bigs, and we got good ball handlers. We play everything well.”

What does it mean?

Mt. Abram is undefeated and Winthrop is at .500, but records don’t mean much to Pillsbury or MacArthur. Instead, their sights are on the road to Augusta for the Class C tournament.

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Pillsbury said. “So, like I said, I’m happy to be here, and win or lose, these Winthrop (games), they make you better, because they come to play. If we happen to lose one and we can get better and it helps us in Augusta, it happens.”

MacArthur said this season for the Ramblers revolves around getting back to the brand of basketball Winthrop played in the 2010s when it won state titles in 2019 and 2020, and was a perennial contender.

“We haven’t had the start to the season that we thought we should, and we’ve gone back to our core values and program philosophies, and we’ve been really working on re-establishing ourselves and our program and playing the defense that we want to play,” MacArthur said.

He added that the Ramblers finally saw their heavier practices and extra workouts pay off against Mt. Abram.

They said it

• “We’ve got five guys who can score in different ways, a few shooters, dribble-drivers, some bigs, but what Bryce (Wilcox) does is he’s a good teammate. He’s that guy that passes well, so when he’s getting double and tripled, he’s distributing the ball.” — Jeff Pillsbury

• “We’ve always preached, it’s not about individual stats, it’s about the team. We just want to find a way to win, because you get more accolades and more recognition when you win games than you do when you lose and you have big stats.” — Todd MacArthur

Statistical leaders

• Winthrop: Cole Bard (23 points), Braden Branagan (nine points, four rebounds).

• Mt. Abram: Killian Pillsbury (14 points), Brennan Mitchell (eight points, five rebounds), Bryce Wilcox (11 points).

Up next

• Mt. Abram: vs. Monmouth (5-4) on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

• Winthrop: vs. Waynflete (5-4) on Friday at 6:30 p.m.