BETHEL — Mountain Valley and Telstar/Gould each had their moments in a Mountain Valley Conference boys basketball game Friday night.

It was Ben Desalle and Jake New who sparked the visiting Falcons to a 58-51 victory.

Mountain Valley coach Scott New was glad the Falcons came away with the victory.

“We don’t make it easy on ourselves, let me tell you,” New said. “Missed shots, missed foul shots, turnovers, we get ourselves opportunities to win games, but I told them in the locker room, ‘You can get away with a lot of stuff if you just played hard.’ I thought our effort tonight was high — it was top-level. I am sweating my butt off and I think a lot of it is they make you work for the wins.”

Desalle did most of his damage in the first half and notched a game-high 18 points for the Falcons (8-8). Jake New had 15 points.

Desalle said the goal was not to have the Falcons’ winning streak against the Rebels end Friday night.

“I couldn’t let them destroy that streak of 13 years,” Desalle said. “I couldn’t let it happen and I needed to go out there to get a win for my team.”

For Telstar (5-11), Reily Hedden and Connor Deprey each had 12 and Wyatt Lilly finished with 11 points.

Telstar coach Ryan Kimball said the Rebels played all 32 minutes despite being on the wrong side of the final score.

“I was really proud of how we fought,” Kimball said. “We didn’t give in, but at the end of the day, we all need to be pulling together. I think we let the moment get to us a little bit and we took some hero shots that we normally don’t take.”

Both teams started slow from the field. Telstar used the 3-pointer to build a 6-1 lead in the first quarter.

Desalle heated up by scoring 11 of the Falcons’ 18 first-quarter points.

Desalle used the paint to rack up the baskets.

“Oh yeah, you have to get physical with the big guys,” Desalle said. “I am small for my position — I have to get into them and go to the basket and score.”

Scott New said Desalle knows how to use his body well.

The first quarter when back and forth until the Falcons went on a 10-0 run to take an 18-11 lead into the second.

Mountain Valley’s run extended to 19-0 before Hedden knocked down a 3 for the Rebels to cut the deficit to 27-14.

Desalle had four points for the Falcons in the quarter and the visitors got four more points from Colby Frisbie. The Falcons took a 31-19 lead into the half.

“(Desalle) just ate us up inside,” Kimball said. “We didn’t do a good job of forcing him out of where he wanted to be on the floor.”

Telstar did warm up at the end of the second quarter and carried the momentum into the third. Lilly, Hedden, and Deprey chipped the deficit to 31-28 early in the third.

That’s the closest the Rebels would get to the Falcons in the second half, with Mountain Valley starting to get the baskets to fall in the third quarter. Tanner Henry and Senaca Jones stopped Telstar’s momentum in the third, with each player knocking down a few baskets.

Scott New expected a response from the Rebels.

“We couldn’t expect to run away with this victory,” Scott said. “We knew they were going to come, and it was a game of runs. They got within five or six and then we extended it back up to 10.”

Scott New liked his team’s response because, in games past, they would get frustrated.

Brody Morgan and Lilly kept the Rebels within striking distance as both players started to hit shots in the third period.

“Brody always works hard; he ended up with 14 rebounds,” Kimball said. “The moment and the atmosphere tightened us up a little bit. It made us race a little bit mentally.”

Mountain Valley had a 46-37 advantage heading into the final quarter when the teams traded baskets early on. New had baskets start to drop as the Falcons started pulling away.

“I knew I could hit my shots,” Jake New said. “I was just confident and we needed the shots to hit.”

Telstar couldn’t buy a shot with under five minutes remaining but fought until the last minute, trying to get within two possessions. Filip Nesic had five points in the final minutes for Telstar.

“We knew they were a team that lived and died by the three,” Scott New said. “When they beat Maranacook, they made 15 threes. We had to make those tough.”

New and his teammates hit enough of their free throws to ice the game away.

“He has been playing great lately,” Scott New said of Jake New. “We have to get better at the foul line to finish out those games a little bit better. When I want the ball in someone’s hands, I need to put it in Jake’s hands. He can carry us to a victory — he’s a smart basketball player.”

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