PORTLAND, Maine — Thomas Coyne is perhaps best known around the state’s basketball circles for his scoring and playmaking.
But the Falmouth High School senior guard and Mr. Basketball finalist displayed a tenacious defensive side when it mattered most Saturday in leading the Yachtsmen to the second state title of his high school career with a 59-28 victory over Oceanside of Rockland-Thomaston in the Class A final at the Cross Insurance Arena.
Coyne did total 16 points to lead four Falmouth scorers in double figures, but it was his defensive work on the perimeter that helped coach Dave Halligan’s club stymie the Mariners’ offense and yield just eight first-half points on 3-of-25 shooting from the field.
Coyne guarded Oceanside playmaker Keenan Hendricks and held the Mariners’ star to just five points while also limiting his dribble penetration into the lane to set up the 3-point shot that had been a decisive weapon during their run to the Class A North championship.
“Thomas is a great ballplayer,” said Halligan. “He plays both ends of the court. Not only is he a great scorer but he takes the opposing team’s best player night in and night out.”
The Mariners, who made a Class A tournament-record 30 3-pointers in their regional, hit just 5 of 19 attempts from beyond the arc in the state game, including 1 of 8 during a first half that ended with Falmouth leading 23-8.
“We knew they were a really good team after beating Hampden, one of the best teams in the state (in the Class A North semifinals),” said Coyne, the sixth man on Falmouth’s Class B state title team in 2013. “We heard and saw what they did from the 3-point line in their tournament so a big part our game plan was to take the 3-point shot away.
“Our defense was unreal the whole game.”
While Coyne and younger brother Colin, a junior who scored 11 points, controlled the game’s tempo, they got solid complementary play from the frontcourt combination of Sam Skop, Matt Wulbrecht and Sean Walsh.
Skop set the tone in the paint defensively with three early blocked shots and also scored 10 points, while Wulbrecht had 14 points and seven rebounds.
“(Oceanside) had their perimeter game, they spread the court well,” said Halligan, “but they didn’t have a lot of size underneath so we tried to exploit that if we could and we did that on a number of occasions.”
Oceanside never did get untracked offensively save for consecutive 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter by Nick Mazurek, Riley Sprague and Sam Atwood. The Mariners made just 22 percent (10 of 45) of their field-goal attempts, with Sprague the team’s leading scorer with six points while Hendricks, Atwood and Nate Raye each scored five apiece.
“They’re a great team, they deserved to win,” said Oceanside coach Matt Breen. “They played much better than we did tonight. They made all the right reads and we probably should have come in with a better game plan.”
Oceanside never led but was within 4-3 on a 3-pointer by Hendricks 83 seconds into the game before Falmouth took charge with 13 unanswered points.
A Colin Coyne 3-pointer, layups by Wulbrecht and Skop and a Thomas Coyne drive made it 13-3 and prompted an Oceanside timeout before Skop closed out the opening period by following in his own miss to make it 15-3.
A 15-foot jumper by Walsh extended the margin to 14 points before Oceanside scored again, and Falmouth wasn’t threatened the rest of the day.
“We knew that if we didn’t get off to a good start it would make for a long night for us,” said Breen. “We talked about that and talked about being relaxed and about getting some easy shots to go before we started stepping out to the 3-point line.
“We weren’t able to do that and they had a quick run and it was 9-3 and after that you’re in their hands.”
