BANGOR – Even as the Maranacook student section serenaded incendiary sophomore Ryan Martin with the synchronized salute of “M-V-P! M-V-P!” late in Friday’s Class B boys’ basketball championship game, it sounded more like habit than an honest campaign.
True, Martin was far-and-away the dominant individual talent in this year’s Eastern Maine tournament. And yes, his merely having two sneakers connected with the Bangor Auditorium court was enough to frighten Mountain Valley or any other team into all manner of junk defense and prayer.
But the fear of one player doesn’t have anything to do with the performance of his teammates. With Martin blanketed by Mountain Valley’s mix of diamond-and-one and man-to-man and contained to an of-this-world six points in the first half, somebody had to step up and hit a shot from the fringe of that shiny, new floor.
Enter Will Bardaglio. Himself a sophomore, but having more of the streakiness typical of that tender age than his celebrated classmate, the slender, 6-foot-3 swingman drained six 3-pointers and led all scorers with 25 points.
Coupled with Martin’s 20 (many of those accumulated at the free-throw line in the second half), Bardaglio’s heroics delivered a 73-58 victory and put a Gold Ball in the Readfield school’s trophy case for the first time ever.
“In warm-ups, I couldn’t seem to make one shot,” Bardaglio said. “It just started to turn around in the game.”
If not for a Mountain Valley alumnus named Andy Bedard, who drained eight 3-pointers and 53 points in the 1994 Class B final, Bardaglio’s performance would be a state-game record. As it was, he matched or exceeded any perimeter showcase from a Class A, C or D player in the finals since Maine instituted the 3-point shot in the mid-1980s.
Much of Mountain Valley’s focus leading up to the final was directed at Martin, and rightfully so. The 5-foot-8 flash broke one of Eastern Maine tournament legend Matt Rossignol’s records in the regional tourney and threatened several others.
Two problems arise from keeping one eye on Martin. He’s unselfish, and he’s one of three sophomore stars for the Black Bears. There’s Mike Poulin, the point guard who always seems to find the open man, and Bardaglio, who seems to have the gunslinger’s mentality and short-term memory loss needed in his role.
“I always knew Will could shoot. I can’t remember him having a game like that this year,” Martin said, “but I needed to get him the ball tonight. He needed to step up, and he did.”
Martin went more than 12 minutes without a field goal in the first half. Bardaglio bottomed out three relatively uncontested 3-pointers during that span. Bryce Spaulding also quietly scored six points, and Poulin and Justin Denbow each delivered a basket.
“A lot of people forget about the other guys, but you can’t forget about them,” said Maranacook coach Rob Schmidt. “If Ryan gets shut down, we have other shooters who are capable of winning the game for us.”
Mountain Valley, like Mattanawcook, Medomak Valley and Presque Isle before the Falcons, learned it the hard way.
“We started out in the diamond-and-one, but everybody who had an open shot for them stuck it, so we went away from it,” Mountain Valley coach Dave Gerrish said. “Nothing we did tonight seemed to work.”
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