RUMFORD – Senior Travis Fergola has a knack for stepping forward in critical situations. And that’s a welcome relief for the Mountain Valley boys’ basketball team.
Fergola scored nine points in overtime and the Falcons remained unbeaten as their man-to-man defense was dominating in a 64-51 triumph over Boothbay at Puiia Gymnasium on Thursday night.
Byron Glaus led the offense with a game-high 19 points and pulled own four key rebounds. The Falcons received plenty of support from Fergola (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Andy Shorey (13 points, 11 rebounds, four assists)
The game featured intriguing matchups between two of the top teams in the Mountain Valley Conference. Boothbay (11-2) is ranked No.1 in Class C and the Falcons (12-0) are No. 3 in Class B. Shorey is the second-leading scorer (20.8 ppg) and Kris Noonan is third with 19.2 ppg in the MVC. The game had been postponed twice this week.
Mountain Valley jumped ahead right off in the extra session when Fergola scored on a conventional three-point play. Roy Arsenault (15 points, eight rebounds) sank two free throws, but the Seahawks couldn’t score again.
“We needed to go after them,” Fergola said. “That was the strategy in overtime. We needed to penetrate and find the open seams. After the postponements, the extra practice time helped, and we ere eager to play them.”
Fergola, a 6-foot-3 center, scored two baskets, sandwiched by DJ Gerrish stealing the ball and scoring on a fast beak. Gerrish had nine points and four steals.
“We had some nice stops in OT,” Falcon coach Dave Gerrish said. “Our main goal was to get Boothbay out of there two-three zone. It was difficult for us to shoot against it.”
In OT, the Falcons made 10 of 16 shots from the floor, committed one turnover and made seven of 10 free throws.
Boothbay had led most of regulation, behind Pat Norton’s 15 points, Noonan’s 12 points and guard Matt Sceviour.
Mountain Valley overcame a 11-point deficit on treys by Gerrish and Marcus Palmer. Palmer, who leads the MVC in 3.8 steals a game, swiped the ball and scored to give the Falcons a 32-31 lead three minutes in to the third quarter.
Glaus scored seven points in the fourth and the Falcons regained the lead again.
“Shorey had missed a lot of practice because of an injury,” Gerrish said. “Andy showed a lot of heart. We adjusted during the game and Travis Fergola really stepped up. “
Mountain Valley held the ball for the final two minutes, but missed a shot at the end of regulation. The Seahawks missed six shots and had three turnovers in OT.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.