WALES – With a good mix of steady veterans and talented freshmen on his squad, Maranacook coach Rob Schmidt would be the envy of a lot of his peers.

But Schmidt was in an unenviable position Tuesday night. His team is trying to gain some momentum heading into the second half of the season and get some precious experience for its all-freshman backcourt. Yet the Black Bears were blowing Oak Hill off the floor within the first five minutes and under no inclination to embarrass the Raiders.

Schmidt found the right balance in Maranacook’s 88-24 victory. He had to do it quickly, as the Raiders (1-10) committed 12 turnovers in the first quarter and seven different Black Bears got into the scorebook on their way to a 29-6 lead.

Senior Logan Gerrity led the Black Bears with 13 points and five rebounds. Freshman forward Will Bardaglio added 13 off the bench, including three 3-pointers.

Bardaglio is one of three freshmen in Schmidt’s regular rotation, along with the starting backcourt of Mike Poulin and Ryan Martin.

Martin has been starting the entire year at two guard, while Poulin stepped in at the point after three games. Both had big shoes to fill replacing a couple of backcourt stalwarts who had also started as freshmen, Charlie Calligan and Matt St. John.

“These guys are not intimidated by it. They don’t shy away from it one bit,” Schmidt said. “They bring poise. They bring scoring ability. They bring assists and ball-handling. They bring a lot of really good things. They’re great team players.”

Martin helped get the Bears off to a flying start last night with a couple of early treys on his way to 12 points. Poulin, meanwhile, ran the point like a veteran, setting up his teammates in transition and the halfcourt offense on his way to six assists to go along with eight points in limited minutes.

The Bears have had a spotty, spread out schedule that could have slowed the jelling of the freshmen with veterans such as Gerrity and Nate Meyer, but Gerrity said the team doesn’t seem to have missed a beat.

“I think it’s been a pretty easy transition because they were so ready coming in,” said Gerrity, who is the brother of Bates star Brian Gerrity. “They’re just really fundamental and they play really sound basketball.”

“There’s some very good upperclass leadership, both vocally and by example,” Schmidt said. “I think we’re very lucky in that.”

Maranacook improved to 5-5 entering on the doorstep of its toughest stretch of the season, with Winslow and undefeated Camden Hills coming up in the next two games. The experience their youngsters gain, and the confidence the whole team gains, in that stint could make the Black Bears a very dangerous team come tournament time.

“Realistically, I would like to win six out of our last nine games and fight for a spot in the six to eight positions. That’s realistic,” Schmidt said. “I’d be thrilled to go in in the top five.”

If Maranacook goes in that high, it will mean it’s clicking on all cylinders, which could make the Bears bad news for the rest of Eastern Class B.