61-60. It’s a score that will live interminably with 2017-2018 Boothbay Region High School boys’ basketball fans for decades. Boothbay held a 60-52 lead with two minutes and 20 seconds remaining, but a series of missed shots, committed turnovers, and a Nate LeBlanc 3-pointer gave No. 2 Winthrop a one-point victory over No. 6 Boothbay Feb. 22 in the Class C Boys’ South basketball semifinals.

Boothbay trailed by as many as six in the first half, but the two Mountain Conference foes staged a back and forth contest in the second half until Boothbay changed its defense late in the third quarter. The change spurred Boothbay’s transition game sparking a 21-11 run.

But in the game’s final two minutes, Winthrop showed why it is the defending regional champion. The Ramblers scored the game’s final 11 points. Winthrop made three 3-pointers during the 11-0 run. Winthrop guard Jared McLaughlin scored 23 points, including making two of his six 3-pointers in the run. Winthrop trailed 60-58 with 30 seconds left. The Ramblers called time-out and figured Boothbay would change its defense from zone to man-to-man. But Boothbay coach I.J. Pinkham didn’t change his defense. He only tinkered with it. Boothbay employed a triangle-and-one defense. Pinkham focused one defender solely on McLaughlin, but Winthrop’s play still worked. With 12 seconds left, LeBlanc sank a 3-pointer and Boothbay’s hearts.

“We put a chaser on LeBlanc, but we just couldn’t get through the screen,” Pinkham said.

Boothbay still had one final shot at victory. Boothbay guard Kyle Ames dribbled down the court and into the lane. He pulled up, and missed a potential gaming-winning 10-foot jumper against three Winthrop defenders.

“I could have called time-out, but that gives them a chance to set up their defense. So I let them go down and see what we could do with it,” Pinkham said.

In the third quarter, Boothbay’s 2-3 zone struggled against Winthrop big man Cam Wood who scored 15 points including four field goals in five Rambler possessions early in the third quarter. Pinkham adjusted his defense by making Winthrop’s passing lanes into Wood more difficult.

The new defense worked and nearly engineered Boothbay’s second tourney upset. Boothbay soared to a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter and still maintained a lead with two minutes-plus left.

“I told them that was a tough way to lose a game, by one point,” Pinkham said.  “We had trouble with our half-court offense all night. I also told them we made too many mistakes and made too many bad decisions. But I thought we rebounded pretty well and our second half defense was pretty good.”

For Boothbay, Ames hit four 3-pointers and scored a team-high 22 points. Other Seahawk scorers were Hunter Crocker with 19 points, including three 3-pointers. Steve Reny had 13 points and hit one 3-pointer. Nick Morley had four points and Eli Gudroe added two.

But in the end, Boothbay came up one point short of making the championship game.

“With the 10-point lead, I think we all thought we had it,” Ames said. “But after a time-out, they came out and played harder than us and just wanted it more.”

Boothbay finishes 14-6. Winthrop (16-4) advances to the regional final Friday against No. 1 Hall-Dale (19-1).