For the Waterville Purple Panthers, 2015 ended on a high note, and they head into 2016 with more promise and momentum than the program has seen in some time.

The Panthers’ 67-62 win over Messalonskee on Wednesday at the Capital City Hoop Classic in Augusta was their third in a row, following impressive victories over Mt. Blue and rival Winslow. At 3-4, they already have eclipsed last year’s 2-16 record and are the surprise of Class A North as they currently sit in the fourth spot in the Heal point standings.

“We only got two wins last year, so it’s been a while since we won in general,” second-year coach Nick Pelotte said. “It’s nice to see the kids’ hard work turn into results, because for the last 14 months we’ve been telling them that the progress is being made, but for 16-, 17-year-old kids, when they keep losing games, when you keep losing games, I think at times that they probably think I’m crazy.”

“To their credit, their still fighting and doing what I’m asking them to do,” he added. “We’re taking baby steps.”

The 44-38 win over Winslow on Dec. 22 was a major stride, though.

“It’s given us some momentum, a lot of confidence,” senior Justin Kornsey said. “We’re playing like we should be now.”

Kornsey, who had a team-high 17 points in the win over Messalonskee, and fellow senior Devon Begin, who had 13 points and 13 rebounds in the win over Winslow, have been major forces in the paint for Waterville. Another senior, Gavin Lachance, has given the Panthers a defensive boost.

“It’s nice to see that these guys recognize that you can impact the game in a different way than just shooting the ball,” Pelotte said.

Junior point guard Devon Lebrun has been steadily improving while learning how to run the offense.

“This is his first year playing varsity basketball. He’s got a bunch of skills, but he’s still trying to figure it out,” said Pelotte, an outstanding point guard on Valley’s legendary championship teams. “He’s only been with me for, what, six weeks now, so he’s still trying to figure out what’s expected of him. But at the same time, we’re trying to unleash him, because he does have those skills. It is a happy medium, and I think the more reps he gets and the more experience he gets, he’ll be able to figure out when the time is to push it and go make a play and when the time is to pull out and set things up.”

Waterville will try to extend its winning streak with a tough game at Medomak Valley on Saturday. Whether that happens or not, Pelotte said the focus for his team right now is more on quality of play over quantity of wins.

“Taking it one day at a time is such a cliche, but whether it’s practice, games, whatever, we are trying to be better today than we were yesterday,” Pelotte said. “That’s our goal, just keep steadily improving.”

• • •

Maranacook coach Rob Schmidt is satisfied with his team’s return to Class B after its 6-1 start, but believes the Black Bears still have plenty to work on.

“We’re off to a promising start. I really didn’t know what to expect coming into the season,” Schmidt said. “We don’t see everybody during the summer and we don’t see everybody on the same night over the summer. So I went into November not really knowing what to expect.”

The key so far has been the defense, Schmidt said.

“Defensively, we’re in just about every game that we’re playing,” he said. “We played particularly well at Lake Region last week. We held them to 50 (in a 59-50 win), which I was very pleased to see.”

Offensively, the Black Bears are usually led by Kent Mohlar and Kyle Wilbur, but Schmidt has been happy to see a host of different players score eight or 10 points in support on any given night. He’s just looking for them to become more consistent as a unit.

“I still don’t think we’re shooting great. We’re probably about 30 percent as a team,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of room to grow on offense.”

With the new five-class format, Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference teams are playing crossover games with Western Maine Conference teams, and the Black Bears have already faced three from the traditionally strong league, garnering wins over Lake Region and Poland and their only loss to Yarmouth. They travel to Freeport on Saturday to face their fourth and final WMC opponent.

Schmidt said the crossover games have given him and his team an idea of what they could run into if they reach the Class B South tournament in Portland in February.

“I think we were tested early and it really gave us a gauge where we stand in that B South,” Schmidt said.

• • •

It is a rare rebuilding season for Forest Hills, the defending state champions and winners of two of the last three state titles and three of four regional championships. Yet coach Anthony Amero’s young Tigers are off to a 4-3 start and in the thick of the Class D South tournament hunt.

“I can’t complain with (4-3),” Amero said. “We lost our entire starting lineup, so I’m pretty proud of the kids’ efforts.”

Amero has two juniors, a sophomore and two freshmen in the starting lineup. The roster has no seniors, the two juniors (Aaron Moffitt and Javier Padilla), four sophomores, three freshmen and an eighth-grader. No one is over 5-foot-11, and the younger players are adapting to the more physical aspects of high school basketball.

“We’re just undersized. We have to keep growing,” Amero said.

The Tigers will be doing a lot of growing as a team in the coming weeks. After falling to Rangeley in a nip-and-tuck 58-54 game at the Augusta Civic Center on Thursday, they enter the new year encountering the toughest stretch of their East-West Conference schedule. They host unbeaten Valley on Saturday and travel to Bingham to face the Cavaliers again on Jan. 16. In between, they play Greenville at home and have road games at Richmond and Pine Tree Academy, which are a combined 9-2.

“On paper, we’re not supposed to win any of those,” Amero said. “I’m looking to get better each time we step on the court. I don’t sugarcoat it and I don’t put unrealistic expectations on the kids, either.”

The plan may be for Forest Hills to return to contention next year, but Amero still is gearing his team to be playing its best basketball this February. Beyond Valley, he said, Class D South could be wide open, and he’s not ruling out the Tigers being a tough out at the Augusta Civic Center this season.

“The No. 1 slot is sewn up. You tell me who’s going to be two-through-eight. I’d like to know,” he said.

Helping Amero prepare for the future have been several well-known names from Forest Hills’ past. Various alumni, including 1,000-point scorers Corey Plante (one of Amero’s assistant coaches), Evan Worster and Matt Turner — and Turner’s teammate on the 2015 state championship team, Tanner Daigle — have dropped by the early-morning practices over the Christmas break to give the current players some tips and tough competition.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33