RUMFORD – The Mountain Valley Falcons know that fired-up foes are occasionally going to shoot lights out against them. The key is that the Falcons are the one holding the switch at the end like they were Thursday night against Wiscasset.

The Falcons overcame some torrid shooting by the Redskins with tenacious defense and a patient offense to win, 62-59, in a battle of Mountain Valley Conference unbeatens.

“We have a running joke on our bench that every team is going to shoot 80 percent against us,” said Mountain Valley coach Ryan Casey. “Everybody wants us and we know it. We love it. We’re proud of the fact that people respect our team and they come in and play hard against us.”

Wiscasset shot 50 percent from the floor, including 8-for-13 from beyond the 3-point arc. Mountain Valley shot just 38 percent, but the Falcons closed the gap by forcing 27 turnovers, 19 of them off steals.

Jarod Oldham led the Falcons (6-0) with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Byron Glaus added 14 off the bench. Conrad Griffin led the Redskins (5-1) with 24 points, seven boards and five steals.

Playing without two key contributors, Andy Shorey (illness) and Jeremy Childs (leg injury), Mountain Valley trailed for most of the contest. But the Falcons remained persistent about getting the ball into Oldham in the post, even passing up some open 3s to do it.

“I thought there was tremendous patience on their part to wait until we got chances (inside) because Wiscasset was working hard to take Oldham out,” Casey said. “We started hitting some jump shots down the stretch and once we got them playing man-to-man, we had some good opportunities in the post.”

Korey Staires (seven points, all in the fourth) hit a trey for the Falcons’ first lead at 46-45 a minute into the quarter. Wiscasset battled back to take its final lead of the contest when Griffin put back his own miss to make it 55-53 with three minutes to go.

Back-to-back inside hoops by Oldham and a jumper by D.J. Gerrish put the Falcons up for good with 1:41 to go. Marcus Palmer then stole a pass and got tripped up by Griffin near midcourt, landing hard on his face, and had to be helped off the court by a pair of teammates. A flagrant foul was called on Griffin.

Staires checked in to replace Palmer and made 1-of-2 from the line to make it 60-57. Joe Gallant cut it back to a one-point game with a layup off a Chris Hersom steal. Gerrish then missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Oldham snatched the rebound and drew an intentional foul with nine seconds left. The senior center made both of his free throws and the Falcons had the ball with nine seconds left. Wiscasset came up with another steal, but couldn’t get a potential game-tying shot off before the buzzer.

The Falcons were fortunate to be in the game after a first quarter in which they made just two of 15 shot attempts. The Redskins, behind seven points in the period by Griffin, jumped out to a 17-8 lead after one but led by just four at halftime despite shooting 60 percent, including 6-for-7 from 3-point land.

“Fourteen turnovers in the first half, with as well as we shot the ball, and we’re up by four,” said Redskins coach Matt Cook. “We should have been up 10 or 12 as well as we shot the ball, but the defensive intensity that Mountain Valley showed was something we hadn’t seen this year.”

“D.J. Gerrish (five steals) took over on Conrad Griffin and he just cranked it up a notch,” Casey said. “Once he did, the rest of the team did.”