FALMOUTH — Longtime Falmouth boys’ basketball coach Dave Halligan didn’t recognize his team early in Friday night’s game against Marshwood, as the usually high-scoring Navigators managed only 11 points in the first quarter.
Sparked by the play of reserve Lucas Dilworth, however, Falmouth went on runs in the second and third quarters and pulled away for a 64-46 victory.
Jack Stowell heated up in the second half and led all scorers with 21 points, Dilworth added 14, and unheralded senior forward Zach Morrill finished with 13 as the Navigators improved to 3-0.
“Once we started to get the ball to the right people in the right places and stopped forcing things and turning the ball over, (and) we let the game come to us, we were fine,” Halligan said.
Falmouth scored the first six points, then Marshwood got seven in a row. They Navigators answered with the next five points before a last-second layup from Jason Singer pulled Marshwood within two, 11-9, after one quarter
The Navigators then got some breathing room in the second quarter. Judd Armstrong made a free throw, Dilworth scored on a layup after a steal, and Stowell hit a runner in the lane to cap a 10-2 run. Danny Thim answered with a layup for the Hawks, but Morrill converted a three-point play, then Brady Coyne found Morrill for a layup and a double-digit lead.
Marshwood fought back to within six before Stowell fed Dilworth for a layup at the horn, and Falmouth was ahead 25-17 at the break.
The Hawks were still very much in it when Aidan Sullivan knocked down a 3 to cut the deficit to 29-25 with 5:47 to go in the third quarter, but the Navigators closed the frame with a 21-4 run. Consecutive 3s from Stowell and Coyne got the surge going, then a 3 from Stowell and a driving, contested bank shot at the horn from Morrill served as a punctuation mark.
“Communication and discipline on offense was what we needed to get it together,” said Stowell. “Marshwood’s a tough team defensively, so we knew it was going to be a tough matchup, but we just ran our stuff.”
Marshwood (2-1), which got 17 points from Andrew Perry and 16 from Sullivan, learned a valuable early season lesson.
“I thought our effort in the first half was excellent, but it was a tough third quarter,” said Hawks Coach Bobby Pratt. “We didn’t really have an answer at either end of the court.
“Falmouth’s definitely top-tier and we want to be able to compete with them. I think we did for three quarters, but we’ve got to keep getting better.”
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