Monmouth Academy won its first boys Class C State Championship by holding off a determined Mount View team 52-50 in a hard-fought basketball contest at the Augusta Civic Center Saturday night.
Mount View of Thorndike had been looking to end a 37-year championship drought but could not maintain the 12-point lead it built in the first half as Monmouth relentlessly came back.
Monmouth senior forward Sammy Calder led his team with 15 points, while senior guard Kyle Palleschi scored 13 for the 19-6 Mustangs.
For Mount View, which finished with a 17-6 record, senior guards Noah Hurd and Wyatt Bennett each scored 16 points.
Monmouth coach Wade Morrill was thankful for his group postgame. “I’m just one guy at the end of a long line of good coaches,” he said. “There’s a lot of people invested in these boys, not just in basketball but in our community. This group of boys is really fortunate to have so many people who love them and care about them that helped bring them to this moment.”
Unlike the finish, early on everything was going Mount View’s way as they jumped out to a 12-2 lead halfway through the first quarter. Hurd’s hot stroke started early, as the senior nailed his first pair of threes on the night in that span, while senior guard Wyatt Evensen hit a three of his own, forcing Monmouth into their first timeout of the night.
Things didn’t get much better for coach Morrill’s crew after that point with Mount View eventually navigating their way to a 22-10 lead with just over five minutes to play in the second quarter, the largest lead of the night for either side.
Monmouth refused to give up, however, fighting back with last-minute buckets from Jacob and Luke Harmon and Calder sinking a floater just before time expired in the first half to close the gap to 26-25 going into the locker room.
“We knew that Mount View played off energy, so we just had to get our momentum going in the right direction. I think we stole the momentum just before half,” Morrill said.
Calder started off the second half just as he had ended the first, scoring the first four points of the quarter for his team and reigniting a spark within his teammates. Noticeably, Monmouth began to play much more actively on the defensive end, forcing Mount View into numerous bad or contested shots. With 4:07 to play in the third quarter, Palleschi dropped in a three to take the lead 34-32, marking the first time Monmouth held the lead since Calder’s opening basket in the first quarter.
Morrill was aware of what his team needed to change if they were to win. “They were killing us from behind the arc early, we tightened up on our closeouts, but our whole game was if you’re gonna beat us, beat us from deep. Paint wins, period. Any level of basketball you play at.”
Entering the fourth quarter up 43-38, Monmouth had to continue channeling their newfound momentum if they were to win their first championship in program history.
Though Mount View was able to tie the game up at 47 and force Monmouth’s Lucas Harmon to foul out, it wasn’t enough to stop the Mustangs’ full-strided gallop. Calder was able to take the lead back with 1:48 to play, and Monmouth never looked back as they went on to win, 52-50.
Morrill was most impressed with his group’s depth than anything after their show of resilience.
“Kyle got in foul trouble, Luke fouled out, we ended up using eight guys,” said Morrill. “Rory (Foyt) hasn’t played all tournament, came in and played two good minutes for us. Jake (Harmon) our freshman stepped up big. Levi (Laverdiere) gets banged up, sucks it up for a few minutes. I just can’t say enough about our boys’ mental toughness.”
Story by Mike Corrado