By Kalle Oakes

Staff Writer

RUMFORD – Hall-Dale and Mountain Valley put on a heck of a show in Monday night’s Mountain Valley Conference boys’ basketball championship.

And now they’re glad they won’t have to deal with each other in next week’s regional tournament.

The Bulldogs walked away with the big trophy for the second straight year, knocking off the host Falcons, 58-56, in overtime before a near-capacity crowd at Puiia Gymnasium.

Hall-Dale avenged its only loss of the regular season, a 21-point blowout in this building last month. Now, the Bulldogs can go about the business of being the No. 1 seed in the Western Class C tourney.

They’ll meet either Dirigo or Jay at 8:30 p.m. next Monday night.

“That was a great tune-up. A lot of teams will play scrimmages this week,” said Hall-Dale coach Chris Ranslow. “Some of them will be open, and some of them will be closed, but not many of them will be against this level of competition under these conditions.”

Neither team led by more than five points. Mountain Valley led 49-44 with 4:39 remaining in regulation, but the Falcons scored only one more bucket until the horn.

Then Mountain Valley missed its first six shots of the extra session, and Hall-Dale went 7-of-9 from the free-throw line to take command.

Ben Laflin led the Bulldogs with 20 points. Hall-Dale’s 6-foot-9 center, Matt Wheelock, added 14 points and helped the Bulldogs impose nearly a two-to-one rebounding advantage in regulation. Jack Leet chipped in 12 points, including three early 3-pointers.

Sophomore Andy Shorey led the Falcons with 15.

Mountain Valley is the No. 3 seed in the Western Class B tournament.

“Yeah, it would be nice to say we were the MVC champions,” said Mountain Valley coach Ryan Casey. “But we know we won 18 games, and we know the important game is (in the regional quarterfinals) against Greely on Saturday.”

Wheelock hit two big jumpers from the baseline in the fourth quarter, including a 14-footer with 1:05 to go that tied it at 51.

That came after his counterpart, 6-7 Jarod Oldham, fouled out with seven points for the Falcons.

“Everybody helped turn it around tonight,” Wheelock said. “Now we need to carry this into the tournament.”

Shorey hit three of the Falcons’ seven 3-pointers.

Byron Glaus added nine points for Mountain Valley, which had a chance to knot the game and send it to a second overtime. But Marcus Palmer’s bid from the left wing caromed harmlessly off the backboard at the buzzer.