Dirigo returned intact from its third consecutive Western Class C boys’ basketball championship with the exception of two elements: Its head coach and its point guard.

Considering that, perhaps the Cougars’ continued evolution into one of the elite teams in the state — regardless of class — is no coincidence.

T.J. Frost’s play during last year’s tournament as Dirigo’s sixth man hinted that he was well prepared to take over the position from Spencer Ross, anyway.

Add the tutelage of Travis Magnusson, one of the best ever to play the position in Maine at the high school and Divisioin III collegiate levels, and it’s no surprise that the junior has emerged as one of the top playmakers in the region.

“He’s averaging six assists a game,” Magnusson said of Frost. “He must lead the league (Mountain Valley Conference) in assists. He’s done an unbelievable job getting the tempo up.”

Tempo was everything Wednesday night, when Dirigo bashed Boothbay, 83-49, in a battle of the conference’s top two Class C clubs.

Frost scored six points to keep Dirigo afloat during an up-and-down first quarter, highlighted by a couple of on-the-edge-of-control drives to the hoop for key lay-ups.

He scored the last six Dirigo points of the opening quarter, two on fast breaks fed by his own steals, to rally Dirigo from an early 9-3 deficit to a 15-12 lead.

It was the beginning of a 37-8 run to the end of the half, one that turned the showdown into a showcase.

“Those were a couple of huge plays he made,” said Magnusson, who scored 2,000 points during his career at Georges Valley and then starred at the University of Maine at Farmington before coaching Livermore Falls to multiple tournament berths. “The key was we made our shots.”

Frost’s emergence filled the lone void in a potent lineup that features leading scorer and likely MVC player of the year Cody St. Germain, versatile big man Ben Holmes, streaky shooter Josh Turbide and dynamic defender Caleb Turner.

Another factor in Dirigo’s development is the emergence of its bench.

Eleven different players scored against Boothbay. The reinforcements have shown double-digit potential. Mitch Stanley put up 12 points in Dirigo’s closest win to date against Spruce Mountain. Robbie Babb exploded for a career-high 18 Monday in a rout of Madison.

Barring an unforeseen catastrophe, Dirigo, 10-0 going into Thursday’s home game against St. Dom’s, will be a No. 1 playoff seed for the third time in the past four years.

Dirigo won its first 10 games by a staggering average of 41 points.

The Cougars are in the middle of a demanding stretch that should prepare them nicely for the rigors of postseason.

Saturday night’s trip to rival Mountain Valley is followed by a Monday bus ride to Wiscasset. Looming later is a rematch at Spruce Mountain on Feb. 8, the final game of the regular season.

“Boothbay is a good bsketball team. I know we’ll see them again and they’ll be a tough team,” Magnusson said. “Toughness-wise we talked about this was a big week. We’ve got four games in six days, five in eight days. That’s the mentality that we have to have, to be ready to play every night.”

Falcons in flux

If there’s a team in the region that is most wildly in favor of the Maine Principals’ Association increasing the size of the tournament field from 50 to 67 percent this season, it’s probably Mountain Valley.

As one of only two Class B teams in the MVC (Spruce Mountain replaced Lisbon this season as the other), Mountain Valley still has a decided edge over many of the second-division Class C teams in the league.

But it takes more wins to earn substantial Heal Points against a predominantly ‘C’ schedule. And having a young team that doesn’t possess the depth or flash of their recent predecessors, the Falcons work harder for those victories than usual.

Mountain Valley is 5-4 at the halfway mark, several notches beneath its customary 8-1 or 9-0 perch.

“We’re playing for seeding right now,” Mountain Valley coach Rick White said. “I think we’ll win enough games to get into the tournament. But we’re playing to get out of that 10-11-12 range so we don’t have to play a prelim on the road.”

The Falcons are currently 10th in Western B Heals, chasing Poland and Wells and leading Lincoln and Maranacook. Twelve teams will make the playoffs, with No. 5 through 8 hosting first-round games at campus sites in the preliminary round.

Mountain Valley lost four-year standout Cam Kaubris to graduation. Its second-leading scorer from 2010-11, Izaak Mills, elected not to play, and another multi-year starter, Isaac Roberts, left the team early in the season.

The personnel changes have made Jacob Theriault a marked man, although he still erupted for six 3-pointers in a 48-37 loss at Spruce Mountain. Zak Radcliffe is also a scoring threat for the Falcons.

Mountain Valley has two more cracks at Dirigo, the first on Saturday, and a second contest against Spruce Mountain as opportunities to earn needed Heal Points.

“We feel like we can beat those teams if we play to our potential,” White said.

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