FARMINGTON — No Eric Berry? No problem for Mt. Blue.

The Cougars bolted out to a 12-point lead in the game’s first four minutes, holding Lawrence to a single field goal in the opening quarter, and, with one hiccup, held the throttle open the rest of the way, overwhelming the Bulldogs for a 62-50 victory in a pivotal KVAC boys’ basketball clash Friday.

“It was a big game, and it was at home, but missing one of our captains, our point guard, everyone had to do a little bit more tonight, and this was a tremendous team effort,” Mt. Blue coach Jim Bessey said. “I thought we played with great emotion. I thought we played really hard. We changed defenses. We were effective speeding them up sometimes … It was a big win.”

Berry, the Cougars’ point guard and one of the top players in Eastern A, will miss two weeks with a sprained ankle suffered in an exhibition game earlier this week. Nick Hilton (25 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals, two blocks) and Cam Sennick (13 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks) picked up the slack for Mt. Blue, and Steven Yardley ran the point well in Berry’s place, distributing the ball in a timely manner while controlling the pace of play.

“They always play physical defense, so we just have to move the ball, play our offense and things will work themselves out,” Hilton said. “

The victory was key for Mt. Blue (4-2), which drew a rough schedule to begin the season, having dropped contests already to perennial contenders Bangor and Hampden. The Bulldogs (4-2) had been on a nice run of their own to begin the season, but ran into a buzz saw of a team in Mt. Blue on Friday.

“We got out-hustled, outworked, out-coached, out-everything,” Lawrence coach Mike McGee said. “That was a hell of an effort by a Mt. Blue team without their best player. I give them all the credit in the world.”

Spencer Carey led the way for Lawrence with 13 points, while Tim Dudley managed 10.

Without Berry, Sennick and Hilton needed to dominate inside. With a combined 20 rebounds, there was little doubt they achieved that goal.

“Hilton killed us,” McGee said. “Hilton and Sennick were just men tonight. We couldn’t guard either one of them.”

Hilton was also a beast from the free-throw line, draining 13 of his 15 chances from the charity stripe.

“I was feeling good with my shot today,” Hilton said.

The Cougars opened the game on a 9-0 run and led 13-1 before Lawrence had a chance to blink. Three free throws and a basket with less than a minute to play in the opening frame kept the Bulldogs within shouting distance at 15-6 after the first.

They closed the gap in the second quarter, hitting for six consecutive points and pulling to within four, a trailing margin Lawrence maintained into halftime.

“We started getting a little quick and forcing passes,” Hilton said. “We had a lot of turnovers and they got back into it. The coaches told us to settle down and just play our game.”

Turnovers doomed the Bulldogs early in the third, and Mt. Blue again pulled away. Sennick, Hilton and Yardley combined on an 8-2 run to start the second half, putting their squad in command again.

“Turnovers have killed us,” McGee said. “We had a chance to cut the lead to three and we had three straight turnovers for layups and that was pretty much the ballgame. We’re not a very good team right now, it’s as simple as that.”

Carey had a pair of baskets and a free throw with about two minutes to play in the third to pull Lawrence within seven again, but Mt. Blue closed the third with a 6-0 run of its own, and continued that into the fourth with a 5-1 run to open the final frame, putting the game out of reach.