Maranacook’s Jack Fontaine battles Hall-Dale’s Matt Waller for the ball during Wednesday's game in Farmingdale. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

FARMINGDALE — The Hall-Dale boys basketball team wanted to make one thing clear: Jack Fontaine wasn’t about to do what he did in his previous game.

The Maranacook sophomore was fresh off a dominant performance two nights earlier when he scored 37 points in a 63-50 win over Dirigo. To prevail Wednesday, the Bulldogs focused on keeping him in check and keep him in check they did.

Hall-Dale held Fontaine to 10 points to earn a 47-25 win in a major Mountain Valley Conference showdown. The victory keeps the Bulldogs among the top teams in the MVC and Class C South and was a statement win to kick off the second half of the regular season.

“We tried to be in his space, and we tried to make him work really, really hard in order to get the ball,” said Hall-Dale coach Chris Ranslow. “I thought we did a really good job on him. He missed a lot of shots, but we also forced him to take a lot of tough shots.”

How did they do it?

• Hall-Dale limited Fontaine to three field goals and three free throws, and held Maranacook (6-4) to 10 field goals.

• The Bulldogs (8-2) excelled at both man-to-man and zone defense, the former of which Ranslow said is a major strength for his team this year.

• Hall-Dale scored 19 points in the first quarter and led by multiple possessions most of the way before turning the game into a rout in the fourth.

What does it mean?

• With Mt. Abram still unbeaten, and Carrabec and Richmond surging in the standings, Hall-Dale keeps pace with some of the other top teams in Class C South.

• Along with a 55-37 victory over Winthrop at the Capital City Hoop Classic, Wednesday’s win stands out among the most impressive on Hall-Dale’s résumé.

• The 25 points allowed were the fewest in almost six years for Hall-Dale, which hadn’t allowed that few since an 86-15 win over Carrabec on Jan. 25, 2019.

Key moments

• A seven-point spurt by Hall-Dale’s Jaxon Olsen in the first quarter was crucial as the Bulldogs quickly established a 13-5 lead. Maranacook never recovered.

• Free-throw shooting helped ice the game for Hall-Dale, which got multiple makes from Olsen, Greyson Cary and Keegan Cary in the fourth quarter.

They said it

“We scored the ball well early on. I thought we came out and got the jump on them. I thought we were flying around, and we were able to run and get some easy buckets early on and make a couple 3s. Scoring 19 points in the first quarter was huge, and I thought we did a good job from the free-throw line.” — Chris Ranslow

“It was a team effort tonight on defense and on offense. We had to take it one step at a time, one play at a time, value the ball, and we got it done tonight. (Allowing just) 25 points, especially against a Class B school. It’s just a great feeling.” — Jaxon Olsen

“We knew Jack played a good game against Dirigo previously before us, and we just had to settle in on defense. We held them to 25 points, which was the main goal.” — Hall-Dale senior Matt Waller

Statistical leaders

• Maranacook: Jack Fontaine (10 points), Caldre Glowa (nine points), Mitch Maceda (nine rebounds).

• Hall-Dale: Jaxon Olsen (13 points), Matt Waller (10 points, eight rebounds), Karter Eldridge (six points, six rebounds), 15 of 19 from the free-throw line as a team

Up next

• Maranacook: at Spruce Mountain (9-1), 6:30 p.m. Tuesday

• Hall-Dale: at Waterville (2-6), 11:30 a.m. Saturday