READFIELD — Feisty; high-caliber; down to the wire. This was everything you’d want in a game between two Mountain Valley Conference boys basketball foes late in the season.
The Monmouth Academy and Maranacook teams went blow for blow Thursday in a thrilling late-season showdown. In the end, it was the Mustangs making one more basket than the Black Bears, prevailing 58-55 for their ninth consecutive win.
“We’ve got a lot of heart,” said Monmouth coach Wade Morrill. “This was probably the most hostile, physical game we’ve had all year. Maranacook made us earn every second; they weren’t going away. Hats off to them because that was a great game.”
How Monmouth did it
• Indeed, the Mustangs (13-4) had to prevail a physical showdown. Both teams battled and bruised to the final buzzer, including one instance in the first half in which they had to be separated after Maranacook (8-8) took exception to hard contact where no foul was called.
• After leading 27-17 at the half, Monmouth trailed by as many as seven points as Maranacook scored 27 points in the third quarter. Yet the Mustangs rallied back in the fourth, retaking the lead with 3:49 to go on a basket by Jacob Harmon.
• With Monmouth ahead 58-55 in the dying seconds, Maranacook’s Jack Fontaine hoisted up a 3-pointer that fell short. The Black Bears’ Mitch Maceda rebounded, but the Mustangs’ Bingham Abbott blocked his shot as time expired.
What it means
• After a 4-4 start to the season, Monmouth has won nine straight games. A fourth straight Class C South final appearance that looked less reasonable midseason now looks like an attainable goal for the Mustangs.
“We made a big switch at that point in the year, moving me back to the 5 and Rory Foyt out to the 3,” Abbott said. “Making that switch and kind of starting from scratch a little bit later in the season helped us out, for sure. These guys have been playing great since then.”
• The loss is the fifth in seven games for Maranacook after a 6-3 start. The Black Bears are now seventh in Class B North with two games to go in the regular season.
They said it
“I told (Abbott, who scored 12 points in the fourth quarter) between the quarters, ‘You’re the senior; you have to step up.’ He did that, and I thought Aiden (Oliveira) did a great job of setting him up. It was just a very good job by our team in a very tough contest here in this gym.” — Wade Morrill
“It definitely feels like a playoff game, that’s for sure. It’s definitely a fun atmosphere to have to play in to overcome a bad third quarter like that, but we just kept each other together, kept each other out of (our) heads, and we just went to work in the fourth.” — Bingham Abbott
“We showed a lot of resiliency outscoring them by (15) in the third quarter after we were down 12 points. They just made a couple baskets at the end, and we had some chances for rebounds and couldn’t get them.” Maranacook coach Travis Magnusson
Stat leaders
• Monmouth: Aiden Oliveira (18 points), Bingham Abbott (16 points, six rebounds), Jacob Harmon (10 points, 10 rebounds)
• Maranacook: Jack Fontaine (25 points, 10 rebounds), Grady Hreben (12 points on four 3-pointers), Mitch Maceda (nine rebounds)
Up next
• Monmouth: vs. Hall-Dale (12-5), 6:30 p.m. Wednesday
• Maranacook: vs. Madison (9-8), 6:30 p.m. next Thursday, Feb. 6
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