BOOTHBAY HARBOR – Mountain Valley High School can’t rely on a wealth of experience in retreating to the chalkboard, scratching heads, sipping sour Gatorade and analyzing boys’ basketball losses.

Discerning how Saturday night’s never-ending trip to Boothbay Region High School also figuratively went south, 54-50, didn’t require a Master’s degree in game film breakdown.

“We’ve just got to learn to come to play every night, from the get-go, and get focused on what we’re trying to accomplish out there,” said Mountain Valley coach Dave Gerrish.

What the previously undefeated Falcons (5-1) achieved in their sternest test of the season to date would have been acceptable, even encouraging, by another program’s standards. Trailing throughout, by a dozen points in the second and third quarters and by seven with 42.4 seconds remaining, Mountain Valley came within an unfriendly rim of a game-tying 3-pointer in the waning ticks.

Having to counterpunch all evening is what the reigning Class B champions will tuck away for an object lesson, however. Five frenzied minutes at the finish and fits and starts in the middle won’t get it done against any of the Falcons’ fellow Big Four — Boothbay, Dirigo or Winthrop — in the Mountain Valley Conference.

Four-year starter Kris Noonan, Boothbay’s 6-foot-4, 200-plus-pound center, posed match-up problems in the paint from tip to horn. He concluded with 22 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and countless altered shots on the defensive end.

“They certainly didn’t have an answer when we were able to get the ball inside to him,” said Boothbay coach I.J. Pinkham.

Noonan’s three rare misses from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter actually resuscitated the Falcons’ faint comeback hopes, but he wasn’t alone.

Joe Farrin (nine points) was the last Seahawk to successfully swish a pair from the stripe. He delivered those with 6:04 left, restoring the lead to double digits at 42-32.

Boothbay (5-1) went an erratic 8-of-16 in the fourth quarter and 13-for-26 overall.

“And they were putting my best shooters on the line,” Pinkham quipped. “Imagine what would have happened if they had fouled the others.”

Mountain Valley compounded those issues by forcing three turnovers in the final minute, one on a steal by freshman Cameron Kaubris and the other two by slapping the ball off the Boothbay ball-handlers’ feet.

Owen Jones (22 points, 13 rebounds) corralled an offensive board and stuck a short jumper for the Falcons, slicing the lead to a seemingly innocent five with 30 seconds left.

Justin Staires forced the next Boothbay miscue, leading to Keith Brennick’s 3-pointer from the left wing and a 52-50 deficit with 16 seconds to go. Mountain Valley was called for an intentional foul against Noonan, but he missed the second freebie and the Seahawks gave away the ensuing automatic possession on another bobble out of bounds.

Jones flagged down a feed from Staires and uncorked a trey with four hands in his face from the top of the semi-circle. It rattled off, and Noonan reeled in the rebound before another 1-for-2 exchange at the line with 7.8 seconds showing.

Mountain Valley’s 6-for-22 final stanza from the floor made it 19-of-64 (29.8 percent) on the night, thanks in large part to a patient Boothbay zone.

“The shots weren’t falling at all tonight,” Gerrish said. “We went a little cold from the outside, but I have to give Boothbay a lot of credit for that and for giving us a heck of a game.”

Brennick finished with seven points and four steals for Mountain Valley, which hosts rival Dirigo in another circle-your-calendar game Tuesday.

Zak Vanderlaan and Dan Hallinan added eight points each and Tim Stover seven for the Seahawks. None were starters last winter, when Noonan and four seniors guided Boothbay to the Western Class C title.