MONMOUTH — Four games doesn’t sound like much of a winning streak if you’re Mountain Valley, Dirigo, Winthrop or one of the other year-in, year-out Mountain Valley Conference boys’ basketball giants.

At Monmouth Academy, batting .800 a week before Christmas is the stuff of dreams. The Mustangs continued their unforeseen rise to the MVC’s high-rent district Wednesday night with a 50-39 verdict over scrappy Lisbon.

The Mustangs (4-1) never trailed after the first quarter, but they needed 10 of senior Ryan Baillargeon’s game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter to successfully nurse a lead that dipped from a dozen points to four in the final minutes.

“Coach (Lucas Turner) wants us to play smart in our halfcourt offense and show patience,” Baillargeon said. “We did that for most of the second half, and we were able to pull out another close victory.”

Baillargeon nailed two open 3-pointers from the left wing in a 68-second span to land Monmouth a 38-26 lead with 5:49 remaining.

Lisbon’s Scott Eck immediately answered Baillargeon’s second trey with his own 3-pointer. That triggered a run of eight straight points for the Greyhounds (0-5), whittling the deficit to four with 2:55 to go. 

Tim Whitmore’s steal and coast-to-coast drive for two steadied the Mustangs, however. Baillargeon found Robbie Neal cutting to the hoop for a bucket on Monmouth’s next possession. 

Neal, Baillargeon and Whitmore knocked down six straight free throws to put away Lisbon, which looked like a team poised to end its three-year winless skein before season’s end.

“The confidence these guys have right now is shaky, at best,” said Lisbon coach Eric Hall. “We’re trying to nurture that. When you get within four points like we did, hopefully with experience you’ll start to pull out those types of games.”

Using its zone defense to clog the middle, Lisbon shut out Monmouth’s Corey Dyke after letting the senior forward explode for nine points in the first quarter. 

But Monmouth’s early-season trend of scoring balance prevailed. Neal scored nine of his 13 points in the second half to go with a team-high seven rebounds. Monmouth owned an overall 31-19 edge on the boards.

Whitmore matched Dyke with nine points and drew a pair of player control fouls to spark the Mustangs’ defense. Baillargeon dished out five assists.

“That’s kind of our style of basketball: Tough, half-court defense and patient offense,” Turner said. “Those were big threes by Ryan. He’s been 0-for the last couple games, so he’s streaky, and those were two big shots. They were momentum changers, even though Eck came down and hit one right back at us.”

Eck led Lisbon with 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Mike Degou added 10 points off the bench, six in the fourth quarter.

Lisbon trailed 23-13 at the half after shooting 5-for-15 and committing 14 turnovers.

Back-to-back hoops by Degou and Tobey Harrington brought Lisbon within six late in the third quarter before two Neal free throws stemmed the tide.

“They didn’t quit for 32 minutes,” Turner said of Lisbon. “They play hard, and I think it’s eventually going to pay off for them.” 

Expectations are suddenly elevated at Monmouth, which reached a Western Class D final nine years ago but hasn’t qualified for a Class C tournament since the 1970s. 

Four straight wins are the Mustangs’ most since rejoining the MVC. They’ll face their biggest test of the season to date Friday, when they visit Livermore Falls.

“Last year we struggled to play as a team,” said Baillargeon, whose team was 6-12 his sophomore year and 3-15 last winter. “Now we have balanced scoring. We play with three guards on the court, and even our big guys can handle the ball. We can dribble, drive, kick it out and know the shots are going to be there.”

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