In an era of cold shooting and zone defense, it’s almost impossible to beat the box score Leavitt constructed Tuesday night in a boys’ basketball showdown at Medomak Valley.

Twenty points by sophomore Andrew Middleton. Nineteen for four-year starter Jordan Hersom. Tyler Walton turned in 18 from his point guard spot — oh, not to mention his 10 assists — and Tim Dow dropped another 17.

Thanks to those numbers, Leavitt even got away with wasting most of a 20-point lead and fouling out two of its four horsemen.

The Hornets’ 77-72 victory improved them to 8-2 in the KVAC, No. 2 in Western Class B Heal Points, and demonstrated the problem most opponents face this winter. Leavitt has too many troublemakers on the court at one time.

“We take pride in our defense,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said, “but you don’t beat teams like Camden and Medomak without scoring points.”

Hersom, one of three finalists for football’s Fitzpatrick Trophy this Sunday, is injecting himself at least into the conversation for Mr. Basketball.

Leavitt’s explosiveness has made it difficult for other KVAC teams to repeat last year’s tactic of double-teaming Hersom and punishing him in the paint, freeing him to step up both his scoring and rebounding numbers. He tore down 22 boards Tuesday against the Panthers.

“He’s averaging 20 (points) and 15 (rebounds), and when you have one guy who does that consistently and you can kind of rely of it, it opens up a lot of things for you,” Hathaway said.

Walton’s leadership at point guard has been a cornerstone for the Hornets.

Playing in memory of his grandfather who died unexpectedly three days earlier, Walton was 5-for-5 from behind the 3-point line against Medomak.

The previous Tuesday, Walton’s more traditional contributions from the point steered Leavitt to a 66-64 home win over Camden Hills, the defending Class B champions’ first loss in 23 months.

“He really controlled the pace of that game,” Hathaway said. “He was able to push the tempo and break down their pressure, and he also pulled back and got us into our sets when we needed to.”

Dow was out of the lineup before Christmas vacation, and his return coincided with road losses to Waterville and Oceanside in a three-day span.

“He’s healthy again,“ Hathaway said. “He sat out a couple against easier opponents, and when he came back in those two games you could see he was rusty. He’s been close to 20 the past two games.”

The biggest addition in 2011-12 is 6-foot-5 sophomore Middleton, whose length and shooting touch on the wing are a scary combination.

Middleton and Hersom held the fort after Dow and Walton fouled out with four minutes to go at Medomak.

“He has a lot of areas where he needs to improve, but I keep telling myself he’s only a sophomore,” Hathaway said. “He’s scoring about 18 a game, and he and Hersom alter a lot of shots.”

Levi Morin and sixth man Tylon Crockett also factor heavily in this year’s aspirations for Leavitt, which set a school record with 14 wins a year ago.

Leavitt gets some extra time to prepare for its next big test at Gardiner, which was postponed due to Thursday’s storm.

With no regularly scheduled games in the KVAC next week due to midterm exams, Leavitt and Gardiner will play at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

“That gives us time to recoup and have a couple of good practices,” Hathaway said. “That’s always a tough, physical, half-court game.”

Knights wounded

Poland’s breakthrough season, documented in this space one week ago, suffered its first bad break the same night.

Senior forward Jake Littlefield suffered a fractured wrist in a Jan. 6 loss at Cape Elizabeth, indefinitely costing the Knights one of the leading scorers and rebounders in the Western Maine Conference.

Second-year coach Tyler Tracy pronounced the loss “a bump in the road.”

“We are still in a great position and have the ability to finish the season strong,” he added. “The kids are still optimistic about our season and about Jake.”

Poland dropped to 5-4 Tuesday with a 63-56 loss at Yarmouth.

‘Hounds, Ramblers zero out

Nobody has to sweat out the possibility of a winless season in the Mountain Valley Conference. Just shy of the halfway mark, every team is on the board.

Lisbon ended a streak of nearly two full seasons by topping Winthrop, 45-36, on Jan. 5. Still winless at that point, the Ramblers got rid of the round number in their win column next time out by routing Mt. Abram, 51-31.

Mason Smith scored 12 points and Tucker Brannon 10 in the victory for the Greyhounds, who had lost their first seven games by an average margin of nearly 30 points.

Winthrop held Mt. Abram to a combined 10 points in the second and third quarters to run away with its win. Tyler Foster, Hunter Kilgore and Taylor Morang combined for 41 of the Ramblers’ 51 points.

It was the first win as a varsity coach for Todd MacArthur, who played at Lawrence and was previously an assistant both at Winthrop and Messalonskee. MacArthur is the fourth different coach in five years for Winthrop, which won the Class C title in 2008 but hasn’t been to the tournament since 2009.

Tasty menu

Tonight’s local schedule is a smorgasbord of options with playoff implications.

Four of the top seven teams in Eastern Class A will tip off in the Twin Cities. No. 6 Mt. Blue (6-3) is at No. 2 Lewiston (8-1), while No. 4 Lawrence (6-3) visits No. 7 Edward Little (5-4).

The top two teams in Western Class C meet for the fourth time in 11 months when Boothbay (8-1) drops in on Dirigo (8-0) at 5:30 p.m. The game was rescheduled after Thursday’s storm.

Boothbay won the 2011 MVC championship 89-88 in double overtime, but the Cougars returned the favor in both the regional title game and December’s regular-season opener.

Telstar (3-5) is at St. Dom’s (3-5) in a battle of two teams needing a win to solidify their Western C playoff hopes.

Class B’s big local battle is on hold until Saturday night, when Mountain Valley (5-3) travels to Jay for a clash with Spruce Mountain (8-1).

koakes@sunjournal.com

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