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STANDISH – Bonny Eagle looked tough against visiting Windham on Friday night, Feb. 3: Jackson Bean even closed the first half by knocking down a go-ahead three for the Scots. The triple Eagles threat of Dierhow Bol, Mike Gilman and Nick Curtis – all three posted double-digit performances – owned the second half, however, and Windham scooted ahead by the end for a 46-39 W.

“The first half, we were just settling for pretty bad shots,” said Windham head coach Chad Pulkkinen. “Guys were being pushed to do stuff we don’t really like to do, which is take quick shots. We need to work the ball around; we did that in the second half.”

The Eagles struck first, Gilman putting his boys out front with a two, but Scot Will Hendrix promptly responded from underneath. Gilman then knocked down a three and Bol a two for 7-2, but the Scots continued to battle and closed the opening eight minutes with a Zach Maturo three to take the lead at 12-11.

The second proved a similar affair: Maturo opened the stretch with a two for 14-11 before Bol hashed a pair of frees and Curtis bucketed a two to turn the tables at 15-14. Nick Thorne and Jack Hogan both contributed for Bonny Eagle and Bol added further points for Windham as the clock ticked toward the break. The last word, then, belonged to Bean, whose crowd-pleasing three broke a tie and put his boys up 22-19 as they headed to their lockers.

“That first half was ugly,” Pulkkinen said. “We got stagnant, played into their matchup zone, which is to take quick shots. We really wanted to work the ball around, make them work a little bit. On defense, they make us work, so we needed to make them work to be able to open stuff up in the second half and fight for that win.”

Windham methodically took control in the third. Curtis, Bol, Gilman and Nazari Henderson all piled points on the scoreboard while, on the defensive end of things, holding the entire Bonny Eagle contingent to just four Hendrix points in the same timespan. The Eagles thus began the final quarter up 34-26.

Pulkkinen remarked on some of his key contributors: “Dierhow’s a tough matchup,” he said. “Their big guy (Will Hendrix) is pretty lethal when he gets comfortable, and Dierhow got him into foul trouble, so we needed to keep going in to Dierhow. And Dierhow’s getting more confidence as the season goes.”

“[Coach] told me that nobody there would be able to match up with me,” Bol said, adding that Pulkkinen’s advice actually boosted his confidence. “So I took advantage of that and scored the ball…It’s funny; [Hendrix] got into a lot of foul trouble, so he wasn’t out there a lot.”

“His 14 rebounds is huge for us,” Pulkkinen said of Bol. “That allows us to out-rebound the other team, limit their possessions, their second chances, and gives us more opportunities on the offensive side when he gets offensive rebounds.”

“We needed to rebound a lot,” Bol said. “We only let up four points in the third quarter, so that was good, and we rebounded great. That kept them low-scoring.”

“Getting the ball in to Dierhow gets Nick and Mike better looks,” Pulkkinen said. “That’s no secret. And Nick and Mike are going to hit shots; they’re going to score; they’re scorers. We had some good contribution from guys. Guys were smart with the ball, stayed with the plan, set good screens. It was a team effort, from the bench guys to the guys that were playing.”

“The rest of the team did great,’ Bol said. “Nazari (Henderson) took a lot of charges; Cory (Hutchison) came in, rebounded the ball a lot. (Orion) Beers came in and hustled for the ball a lot. It was an all-around great game for all of us.”

Now, the Scots turned the heat back up in the final eight minutes, outpacing their guests by one, 13-12. Many of the aforementioned Bonny Eaglers, as well as some further names, contributed in a big way to the push: Thorne had a pretty assist to Hendrix, then turned a huge block into a steal into another Hendrix two; Maturo added two from the line; and Connor Sirois – a persistent perimeter threat – drained a deuce of threes. In the end, however, the Scots needed more than they managed, and fell, defeated.

For Windham, Bol finished with 14 points (not to mention those 14 rebounds); Gilman finished with 13 and Curtis with 10. For Bonny Eagle, Hendrix led the charge with 15; Sirois followed him with nine on three threes.

Windham moves to 11-5 in AA North, a highly competitive conference this year. Indeed, that record – which even includes a huge upset of Edward Little – is only good enough to have earned the Eagles the sixth and final playoffs spot as the end of their schedule approaches. They face Thornton on Tuesday the 7th and Gorham on Thursday the 9th.

“We’ve come a long way,” said Pulkkinen of his squad’s development this winter. “We wanted to continue to get better, and I think that’s what we’re doing. We’re learning stuff every game. Guys are doing a great job, coming to practice ready to work every day…We’re starting to prepare for our opportunities. We still have to take care of business to get our chance at the tournament, but we want to be playing better at this time of year and I think the guys are doing that.”

Bonny Eagle, fourth in AA South, meanwhile slips to 6-11. The Scots close their schedule with a home bout vs. Scarborough (No. 6 at 5-11) on Thursday the 9th.

Adam Birt can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @CurrentSportsME