DIXFIELD — Dirigo christened fits quest for a fourth consecutive Western Class C boys’ basketball championship with two relatively rugged road wins at Boothbay at Mountain Valley.

Upon returning home, the Cougars treated Telstar the way they’ll deal with most Mountain Valley Conference opponents.

The reigning champions never trailed, never were in danger and never slowed down in a 69-25 rout at DeFoe Gymnasium.

“That’s the best club in the conference,” Telstar coach Mark Thurlow said. “When they play like that, nobody in this league can hurt them.”

And the Cougars (3-0) have a surplus of methods by which to inflict pain.

Cody St. Germain led Dirigo with 20 points, 12 rebounds and four steals. Ben Holmes scored 10 of his 14 points in the first half to go along with 10 boards and three thefts.

Point guard T.J. Frost produced 10 points and seven assists. Holmes, Josh Turbide, Jake Dowland and Chad Snowman combined to rain down five 3-pointers.

“We have a lot of weapons on this team,” Holmes said.

“We’ve got a number of guys that can step up,” Dirigo coach Travis Magnusson echoed. “If you try to stop one thing, other guys can beat you.”

Telstar couldn’t stop St. Germain or Holmes inside early and struggled to contain Frost’s dribble penetration late.

Nothing went well offensively for the Rebels (1-2), either. Telstar was 9-for-44 from the field with 32 turnovers.

“We’d miss a shot and we’d hang our heads,” Thurlow said. “We can’t do that. It’s not that we’re young either.”

Dom Haines topped Telstar with seven points. Corey Howard added six.

The Rebels’ best quarter ended in an 18-11 deficit after eight minutes.

St. Germain scored down low and Holmes hit from behind the arc — both courtesy of Frost — for a 5-0 lead in the opening minute.

Telstar missed 11 of its 12 shots and committed eight giveaways in the second quarter. Plagued by its own turnovers, Dirigo sputtered at times but still enjoyed a 32-15 lead at the break.

“The first half was pretty rough with turnovers. We didn’t really get into it,” St. Germain said. “We need to execute better with our set plays and work against a zone. I think we’ll see that a lot this year.”

Twelve unanswered points in the first three minutes out of the second-half chute, most of them in transition, put Dirigo in cruise control.

St. Germain scored eight points in that surge.

“We did run the floor well. That was the key to the second half, I thought. We’re trying to push the ball,” Magnusson said.

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