Maranacook boys basketball edges Hall-Dale in back-and-forth C South battle

Hall-Dale’s student section cheers after the Bulldogs made a 3-pointer against Maranacook, in Farmingdale. (Anna Chadwick/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image

FARMINGDALE — With the way Hall-Dale was shooting, Maranacook coach Travis Magnusson had a clear message for his team with 5.2 seconds left Wednesday: Don’t give them a chance for a 3-pointer.

Thanks to Jack Fontaine, the Bulldogs wouldn’t. In fact, they didn’t touch the ball again.

Fontaine’s steal and layup as time expired sealed Maranacook’s 54-50 victory over Hall-Dale in a Mountain Valley Conference Class C South clash. The result marked back-to-back thrilling victories for the Black Bears, after Friday’s come-from-behind win over Mount View.

“Games like this are why we love Maine high school basketball,” Magnusson said. “It was a great atmosphere, it was a full house, people had energy, and it came right down to the end. It was a great, classic high school basketball game.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

Maranacook (12-4) ran out to a 15-10 lead through one quarter, behind nine points from freshman Gage Mattson. Hall-Dale closed to within 26-25 going into the halftime break, but Mattson resumed cutting his way to the basket in the third quarter, scoring nine more points to make it 40-35.

“(It was all about) being there, a couple feet from the hoop, to get those rebounds, and having my teammates find me on those cuts to get those easy buckets,” Mattson said. “I was just finding those lanes and seeing those openings to make the layup for the bucket.”

Hall-Dale (12-3), though, answered with an 8-0 run to take a 43-40 lead with 5:51 to play. An 11-4 answer from Maranacook put the Black Bears back in front, but a Landon Gilbert 3-pointer at the other end sliced the lead to 51-50 with 12 seconds left.

The Bulldogs then fouled Mattson, who missed his first free throw but made the second. Hall-Dale’s Greyson Cary looked to inbound the ball to Karter Eldridge, but Fontaine stepped in front of the pass, sprinted down the floor and laid it in with a second to go.

“I was just trying to take away the post,” Fontaine said. “I had my back turned, I counted to three, I turned around, the ball came right to me, and I took it down to the other end. (It’s a) good win.”

WHAT IT MEANS

• Maranacook keeps its slim chances at Class C South’s top overall seed alive. It’s a crucial win in the Heal point standings for the Black Bears, who now have a win over a top-ranked Hall-Dale team that defeated Spruce Mountain, the other No. 1 hopeful, earlier in the season.

• Maranacook also showed its mettle in back-to-back games against C South contenders. On Friday, the Black Bears trailed Mount View by 22 early in the second half before storming back to claim a 63-60 victory.

“That (Mount View game) was a big win and a big comeback,” said Mattson, who said Maranacook carried over major momentum from Friday’s win. “We had a lot of energy and some good practices (following that).”

• After a 12-1 start, Hall-Dale has dropped back-to-back games. The Bulldogs lost 58-49 to Valley on Friday in Bingham.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

“(Tayshaun) Cleveland and (Karter) Eldridge are great players, so we had to focus on them, but some of their other guys hit some big shots to keep them in the game. We’ve just prided ourselves over the years on guarding the other team’s best players, and I thought we did a good job of that today.” — Travis Magnusson.