By Sam Canfield, BDN Staff
The relentless, seventh-seeded Mount View boys basketball team outworked, outran and ultimately outscored No. 3 Fort Fairfield on Thursday afternoon, winning their Class C North regional semifinal matchup 66-40 at the Cross Center in Bangor.
The Mustangs’ high energy defense forced 21 Tiger turnovers — including 13 steals — and conceded just four offensive rebounds all game, allowing only 10 second half points. With the win, Mount View improved to 16-5 on the season, and will play the winner of No. 1 Calais and No. 5 Hodgdon at 7:45 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24.
Fort Fairfield finished its season 14-6.
Things started off well for the Tigers, who found senior center Micah Daigle (six first quarter points) and sophomore forward Ethan Willard (six first quarter points off the bench) for quick buckets down low en route to a 15-8 first quarter lead. As play continued, however, Fort Fairfield would gradually succumb to the Mustangs’ aggressive trapping and rebounding, getting outscored 24-8 in the second quarter and 17-7 in the third.
Daigle finished as Fort Fairfield’s lone double-digit scorer on Thursday, tallying 12 points, an assist and two offensive rebounds. Willard would finish with eight points, and sophomore point guard Cayden Ala finished with seven points and two assists.
Mount View, meanwhile, derived ample scoring from various contributors, particularly senior guard Wyatt Evensen (22 points, three offensive rebounds, three assists, four steals), senior point guard Noah Hurd (14 points, four assists, four steals) and senior forward Ben Osborne (seven points, four assists).
After nailing a running floater in the fourth quarter, Evensen was serenaded with chants of “He’s on fire!” from Mount View’s massive crowd in attendance.
Starting sophomore guards Wyatt Bennet and Stuart Knowlton tacked on an additional 12 points and three steals for the Mustangs, knocking down eight of their combined 10 foul shots. As a unit, the Mustangs’ starting five converted on 21 of their 25 total free throws, and racked up a total of 18 field goals (just two 3-pointers) on Thursday.
