MADISON — Olive loaf ham. Someone spitting in your Cheerios. A coffee addict before his first cup in the morning.

Those are some of the things that are uglier than Madison’s 37-29 boys basketball victory over Hall-Dale on Monday night. It’s not a complete list, but the game was far from a masterpiece.

On the other hand, for Madison, it still counts the same as a perfect game in the Heal points. And this was a key Mountain Valley Conference win for the hosts, who improved to 6-1 while Hall-Dale dropped to 4-3.

“Sloppy. Especially the first half,” Madison coach Jason Furbush said. “Second half, we came out and played more as a team, and I think we took care of the ball better.”

Madison won despite shooting 26 percent (15 for 57) from the floor and committing 19 turnovers. Hall-Dale shot 12 for 45 (27 percent) with 28 turnovers. Madison sophomore guard Nick Morales was the game’s high scorer, with eight points. Bryson Camp had six points to lead Hall-Dale.

Both teams have shown their offensive talent this season, but simply couldn’t buy a bucket on Monday. At the end of the first half, Hall-Dale led, 13-12. The visiting Bulldogs controlled the boards, led by Wesley LaPointe (game-high 12 rebounds).

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When Mitch Jarvais and Devon Watt got into foul trouble in the third quarter, Furbush turned to junior Ty Greene, who hadn’t got off the bench in the first half, but immediately seemed to spark Madison with his hustle.

“Ty Greene gives us limited minutes,” Furbush said. “He did a heck of a job tonight coming off the bench. He was the energy we needed, and he made the difference down the stretch. Ty Greene — MVP of this game, for sure.”

A 3-pointer by Mark Linkletter in the final seconds of the third quarter put Madison up 25-22. Hall-Dale freshman Jett Boyer tied it up at the beginning of the fourth quarter with his own three, but Madison pulled away after that. Jared Miller (six points, six steals, three assists) found Greene for a layup and a 33-26 lead, and with 2:42 left, Miller banked in a rainbow leaner that pretty much iced the game.

The final seconds summed up the whole game for Hall-Dale. As time ran out, a Hall-Dale pass went out of bounds for the team’s 18th turnover of the second half. As luck would have it, the ball bounced directly into the hands of Hall-Dale Chris Ranslow. While Ranslow would have been forgiven if he tried to punt the ball off the ceiling, he instead held it without changing the expression on his face.

“In the second half, we switched the defense up, and that seemed to work a little bit,” Furbush said. “They struggled breaking our 3-2, and that made a difference as well.”

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @Matt_DiFilippo


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