BETHEL – Basketball, like life, is full of options for the Livermore Falls High School boys’ hoop team. Best on both sides of that equation when all those choices are can’t-miss.

The Andies fell one free throw shy of putting all five starters in double digits Monday night, and Livermore Falls limited Telstar to one field goal in the final 6 minutes, 29 seconds of a 75-52 Mountain Valley Conference victory.

“Any given night, we have seven guys who could be our leading scorer,” said Livermore Falls coach Travis Magnusson.

This time it was lone senior Ryan Ames achieving that distinction. Ames erupted for a career-high 16 points, including three huge buckets in a 26-second span of the fourth quarter.

Ames’ entire high school hardwood resume was a laundry list of junior varsity accomplishments headed into this season.

“He came out tonight and had a lot of energy, crashed the boards, shot the ball well,” Magnusson said of Ames. “They made their run when he was out, and when he came back in it kind of settled us down.”

Livermore Falls (4-5) couldn’t go wrong with Tom Ventrella shooting 3-pointers, either, such as he did to christen the decisive fourth period. Or with Chandler White slicing to the lane for a layup or a dish. Or with Derek Castonguay delivering easy deuces courtesy of the offensive glass.

Castonguay finished with 14 points and six rebounds. White chalked up 13 points, eight rebounds, seven steals and six assists. Ventrella added 11 points. Khyle Whittemore (nine points) and Nate Michaud (seven) did their share of damage in transition and from the perimeter, too.

“This is one of our best games so far,” White said.

Telstar (1-7) threw a scare into undefeated Winthrop over the weekend. Twice the Rebels whittled Livermore Falls’ hefty lead to eight points. Joel Putnam’s 3-pointer made it 57-49 early in the fourth.

The Andies answered with 18 unanswered points, forcing eight straight Telstar misses and seven turnovers down the stretch. It bore eerie resemblance to a 14-0 first-half run that transformed Telstar’s early lead into a 36-22 halftime deficit.

“We let them have too many shots early,” said Telstar coach Mark Thurlow. “We always have one bad quarter. It’s usually the third quarter. Tonight it was the second.”

Putnam, a junior point guard, scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the second half for the Rebels. He runs the Telstar offense in the absence of senior tri-captain Bryce Walker, who was diagnosed with leukemia during soccer season.

Sophomore Dan Vaughn contributed 14 points and seven rebounds. James Kimball, one of only two seniors in Telstar’s starting five, amassed 13 points, eight assists and five boards.

Ames put away the Rebels by corralling his own rebound after a missed free throw on an opportunity for a traditional 3-point play and converting another lay-up. He scored again on a picture perfect penetrate-and-pitch from White to give Livermore Falls a 68-49 lead with 3:58 remaining.

“We knew we had to answer back,” White said. “We didn’t want them to hang around too long.”