LIVERMORE FALLS — Rivalries are often about staking a claim, carving out a piece of territory and refusing to back down.

Livermore Falls staked its claim to the paint in the second half and shut down rival Jay in the fourth quarter for a 49-39 victory Tuesday night.

The Andies (5-2) limited the Tigers (5-2) to 2-for-15 shooting from the field in the fourth quarter to slowly pull away.

“We did a lot of good things I think defensively tonight,” Livermore Falls coach Travis Magnusson said. “We played a lot of man. I was thinking of going zone, but we did a good job and got the big stops when we needed them.”

The Andies also got the big rebounds when they needed them. 

“The big thing I worried about was the boards,” Magnusson said. “Jay rebounded very well, too, but it was pretty even.”

“We really keyed on boxing out in practice and did pretty well keeping them off the boards,” said senior forward Tom Ventrella, who led the Andies with 10 rebounds and got plenty of help from Mike Armstrong (eight rebounds) and Derek Castonguay (six boards). “They’ve got two of the best big men in (Austin) Clark and (Kyle) Storer, so it was a challenge.”

Clark (12 points, 15 rebounds) and Storer (eight points, seven boards) had their share of success inside late in the first and early in the second quarter as the Tigers battled back from deficits of 7-0 and 15-6 to take a 17-16 lead on a Storer hoop three minutes into the second.

“I was happy with how we got back into the game,” Jay coach Brian Kelly said. “I used two time outs less than two minutes into the game and I told them I wouldn’t hesitate to use all five in the first quarter if I had to, because I’ve seen Livermore and their pressure can be tough. We did a great job handling it from that point on.”

Led by Chandler White (15 points, four steals) and Khyle Whittemore (five points, three steals), Livermore pressured Jay into 14 first half turnovers. A steal and layup by White helped give the Andies a 25-23 lead at halftime. 

The Andies quickly extended the lead to six on hoops by Whittemore and Derek Castonguay (10 points, six rebounds) to start the third quarter.

“The first four minutes of the third quarter, our motion offense was not necessarily scoring points, but it was about as well as we’ve played moving the ball,” Magnusson said. “That really got us the lead.”

Despite having to bench senior captain Jordan DeMillo with foul trouble midway through the third quarter, the Tigers stayed close thanks to some good work by their backcourt of Zack Bonnevie (seven points) and Jacob Bessey (six assists, three steals). Bonnevie drilled a 3-pointer in the third quarter and Bessey set up Clark inside to pull them within 39-37 early in the fourth.

But the Tigers couldn’t get into the paint for much of the fourth quarter thanks to some strong defense by the Andies. Another White layup off a steal opened up a modest run of six straight Livermore points, capped by a Willie Brown 3-pointer from the top of the key that made it a 45-37 game with 4:11 left.

“(DeMillo’s foul trouble) hurt us more offensively than defensively,” Kelly said. “I thought Billy Calden and James Barker and Jake Lord all rotated on Chandler White (five second-half points) and all did a good job on him. Offensively, Jordan’s ability to drive to the hoop, get inside then score or dish off was off. He had to be more cautious worrying about picking up the charge.” 

Jay finally started to get the ball into the paint, but then couldn’t get the shots to drop. A putback by Clark with 3:22 left proved to be the Tigers last points. They had several more opportunities to cut into the lead as the Andies missed numerous free throws down the stretch, but offensive rebounds by Whittemore and Castonguay allowed Livermore to burn valuable time off the clock. 

“Coming out in the second half, we tried to trap a little and their guards made some very nice plays to get them some good looks and we had to adjust,” Magnusson said. “It was a game of adjustments. We started out hot and they made some good adjustments early on to kind of control the tempo, and then we just battled it out.”