Montville — St. Thomas More entered a grueling stretch on Friday that features four games in five days.

Blame the schedule maker.

"I'm the idiot," quipped coach Jere Quinn.

Actually, Quinn made a smart move.

He accepted an invitation to play in the prestigious Spalding Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass., on Sunday because it's a great opportunity, even though the Chancellors are hosting their Founder's Tournament, a two-day event, this weekend.

St. Thomas More started the stretch in style Friday night, beating Bridgton Academy 73-63 to reach today's championship game. The Chancellors (14-3) avenged a 20-point defeat in mid-December in Maine.

Right out of the gate, the aggressive Chancellors rushed and rattled the Wolverines into bad shots and turnovers while building a 27-7 lead in the first 10 and a half minutes.

They spent the rest of the game trying to hold off a comeback and finally closed it out from the foul line.

"We got off to a really good start and we had chances to really explode," Quinn said. "Then we came down in the second half and you see our kids think the game is over. ... We had enough of a lead that everything needed to go well for them and everything needed to implode for us."

During the second half, Quinn reminded his players about his hard rule: compete every possession and never let up.

It was more a mental than physical letdown. The Chancellors just completed exam week and showed their youth at times.

Still, their demanding head coach expected better.

"That's life," Quinn said. "Let's go play. All I'm asking them to do is play a game."

The biggest sequence came with St. Thomas More clinging to a 61-54 lead with two and a half minutes left.

On the next possession, Steve Enoch, who's committed to UConn, grabbed an offensive rebound in traffic and found himself deep under the basket. He leaned back and hit a tough, foul-inducing basket. He made the free throw to complete the three-point play and extend the lead to 10 with 1:57 left.

It was an athletic play by the 6-foot-10, 235-pound center from Norwalk.

"Those are just hustle plays," Enoch said. "I was just looking to get a rebound. ... Luckily, I got the and-one. I knew I was going to make it."

Enoch had one his best games as a Chancellor, finishing with team highs in points (16) and rebounds (14).

Ryan Funk and Ian Gardener also scored in double figures, contributing 11 and 10 points, respectively. Christian Vital added eight points and eight rebounds.

Quinn will need his entire team to contribute to survive this stretch. St. Thomas More faces Coastal Academy of Belmar, N.J., at 3 p.m. in the final. Coastal defeated Thetford Academy (Thetford Mines, Quebec), 77-65, in the second game of Friday's doubleheader.

St. Thomas More heads to Springfield to play Vermont Academy on Sunday night.

"It's such a nice opportunity," Quinn said. "We play 6:30 Sunday night. There will be loads of coaches in the gym. For our kids, that's always important. We stay over Sunday night and go to the Hall of Fame Monday morning.

"So it's a nice weekend."

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe