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THORNDIKE — Wyatt Evensen scored 16 points as seventh-seeded Mount View defeated No. 10 Penobscot Valley 57-38 in a Class C North boys basketball prelim game Wednesday night at a raucous Mount View High gymnasium.

The Mustangs (13-6) will face No. 2 Fort Kent (12-6) in the quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m. on Monday at Bangor’s Cross Insurance Center. The teams did not meet in the regular season; Mount View, which played in Class B last season, played a B-heavy schedule this winter despite the change in classification.

Noah Hurd added 13 points and Ben Osborne 10 for Mount View.

The Mustangs got off to a sluggish start in the first quarter and trailed 10-6 after the Howlers’ Caleb Moon (eight points) drained his second 3-pointer of the period with 2:24 left. After Mt. View coach Brandon Hurd called timeout, the Mustangs scored eight straight points, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Noah Hurd, and never trailed the rest of the way.

“We came out a little bit lethargic compared to what we’re used to,” said Coach Hurd, whose team also defeated C North top seed Mt. Abram 60-52 on Feb. 5. “I think it just took us a minute to get settled in. Once we did that, we started to take control of the game,”

Mount View gradually pulled away and took a 31-20 lead into the locker room on Aiden Davis’s buzzer-beater to end the first half. Defensively, the Mustangs guarded their lane and frequently picked off the Howlers’ long pass attempts. Evensen converted one such steal into a coast-to-coast layup that gave the hosts a 44-28 lead midway through the third period.

Colin Harding scored 11 points for Penobscot Valley (9-10).

David Bailey is a Maine native who joined the Central Maine Newspapers sports staff in August 2022 after three years on the news desk (where he continues to contribute). From 2003-19, David was the sports...