JAY — So this is what we get when the Mountain Valley Conference makes old friends Jay and Livermore Falls play each other on opening night of the boys’ basketball season.

The clanging rims and the referees’ whistles dominated long segments Friday night, making nearly as much noise as the close-to-capacity crowd crammed into the Tigerdome.

But if three quarters were difficult to watch, in the fourth — as usual — it was almost impossible to look away.

Jay made enough stops and sank a majority of its free throws in those frenzied minutes, securing a 50-46 victory.

“It’s huge. It’s a great feeling,” said Jay guard Zach Bonnevie, one of four juniors in the Tigers’ starting lineup. “We hadn’t beaten them in my high school career.”

Bonnevie scored a game-high 15 points to help the Tigers terminate a four-game losing streak against their next-door neighbors.

Jay never trailed after the first three minutes and was balanced at both ends of the floor.

James Barker and Jake Bessey added 11 points each. Nate Shink chipped in eight points, five rebounds and four blocked shots.

Kyle Storer — the only current player who was on the roster the last time Jay beat Livermore Falls — finished with only five points. But he tore down 16 rebounds and headlined the defensive effort against the Andies’ top returning senior, Mike Armstrong.

“I was on him until I got my fourth foul. Then we put Shink on him and I switched to (Mike) Castonguay,” Storer said. “We contested a lot of shots and fired up our man-to-man defense.”

Livermore Falls struggled mightily through three quarters, shooting 8-for-55 from the field before making its run.

Castonguay, Armstrong and Mike Anctil hit consecutive hoops for the Andies. Anctil’s was a 3-pointer from the right corner to make it 37-34 with five minutes left.

Storer swished the first of two free throws before Armstrong’s hook shot from the right baseline cut the Livermore Falls deficit to two.

“Obviously we’re not happy with the loss, but for having a whole new team out there, I’m very happy with the way we fought back,” Livermore Falls coach Travis Magnusson said. “Other than one guy (Castonguay), this is the first time most of these guys have played more than six to eight minutes in a big game. That team (Jay) has been together two years.”

Jay’s experience in close games started to shine through.

Bonnevie drove the lane and dished to Storer for a lay-up and a potential 3-point play.

Storer missed the free throw, but Barker clutched the rebound and located Bonnevie for a jumper and a six-point lead with 3:20 left.

Livermore Falls hit only three field goals thereafter, including a 3-pointer at the horn. Jay went 8-of-13 from the free-throw line and never again let the lead dip below three.

“They managed the clock really well at the end of the game, and if not for our made free throws it might have been a different story,” Jay coach Brian Kelly said. “We worked on that in practice: Taking care of the ball at the end of the game and hitting free throws.”

Armstrong, the lone returning starter from last year’s Western Class C finalist, led Livermore Falls with 14 points and 19 rebounds.

Anctil added 10 points. Hunter Brett had nine points and six assists. Castonguay chalked up eight points and 13 boards.

Despite its own ups-and-downs from the floor, Jay broke open a 12-12 tie at the end of the first quarter to lead 25-19 at the half and 35-25 after three.

Livermore Falls misfired at an icy 3-for-41 clip in the two middle quarters.

“During the timeout about halfway through the third quarter, I told them we were playing halfcourt man-to-man defense about as well as we could expect at this point in the season,” Kelly said. “I think we’d only scored three points coming out of the half at that point, but they hadn’t scored any.”

Barker delivered a bucket out of Jay’s press-breaker after that timeout to give the Tigers their largest lead at 30-19.

Shink scored six points and swatted three shots during the third quarter, contributions that were magnified when Storer picked up his third and fourth fouls late in the period.

“Storer played great defense on Armstrong. We played tough defense all night long,” Bonnevie said. “The Livermore Falls game is always about nerves. But we got the win.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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