LEBANON — One of these days, the Mascoma High boys basketball team is going to put a full 32 minutes together. When it does, the other guys might require oxygen.
The Royals couldn’t make up for a slow start against Lebanon at Lang Metcalf Gym on Friday night. Down 18 points early in the third quarter, the visitors closed within three points twice in the final three minutes before the Raiders hit just enough free throws to secure a 56-50 victory.
The Royals’ Ben Seiler scored 12 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth period before fouling out. Mascoma (1-3) exhausted Lebanon with full-court pressure most of the second half in an effort to erase a double-digit deficit initially constructed by the Raiders in the first quarter.
“Mascoma played better tonight and they’re a good team, so it’s not that surprising,” said Lebanon coach Kieth Matte, whose squad earned a 66-51 win in West Canaan on Tuesday night. “We gained more data tonight, that’s really what we did. They made adjustments in the second half. I think we ran out gas, and they were a bit fitter than us tonight.”
Calvin Bates buried a trio of 3-pointers to lead Lebanon (2-0) with 15 points. Karsten Hansen netted 10 points, and Jackson Stone and Braeden Falzarano had nine each for the Raiders, who also saw junior Nyeoti Punni step into a ball-swatting defensive role when junior starter C.J. Childs turned his right ankle just before the halftime buzzer.
“We’re a slow-starting team; it was like that last year, too,” Mascoma coach Silas Ayres said. “I don’t know what it is about the first quarter, but we start really, really slow most of the time. But the kids responded real well, and that second half was how we need to play in order to get where we need to go.”
He expressed a need for a more aggressive effort after a season-opening loss to Hanover last week. He’s getting it, a little at a time.
Lebanon never trailed and seemed capable of blowing the Royals out of the gym in the opening half. Bates hit an early three, a layup and a 14-footer from the corner as the Raiders built a 14-4 cushion after just five minutes of action.
Most of the Raiders know Seiler from the Lebanon Longhorns AAU program, so they denied him space where they could and held him to just five points in the first half. Punni came in for Childs to open the second period, dropped two putbacks and a bunny to go with five rebounds and made life rough for any Royal daring to attack the basket.
Punni’s time increased with Childs’ injury. Childs challenged Seiler on a late first-half perimeter jumper, landed on the Mascoma junior’s foot and rolled his ankle, requiring assistance off the floor. He spent the rest of the night icing the injury and contemplating crutches.
“Against smaller teams, we thought we’d be using C.J. as the five, because he’s a heck of a screener and he only takes good shots; he’s a great defensive player,” Matte said. “Against bigger teams, we thought we’d use Nyeoti more as the five, but he did a great job stepping up. … C.J.’s a special athlete. If you hooked Ben to a lie detector, he’d tell you he’d rather see any kid on him on our team but C.J.”
Hansen stuck a triple to open the second half, giving Lebanon a 33-15 lead. From that point forward, Mascoma mini-bursts made the contest interesting.
A nine-point run — on hoops from Zach Thompson and Gabe Rock (10 points), a Thompson trifecta and two Seiler free throws — cut the gap to 33-24. The Royals held their hosts to just one field goal in the opening five minutes of the fourth period, getting two 3-pointers and three free throws from Seiler to close to within 48-45 with 3:18 left in the game.
He added one more 3-ball to match one from Bates late but ran out of time, and fouls, with 21.4 seconds left. Lebanon shot just 5-of-11 from the charity stripe in the final 2:08, but it was enough.
“It was definitely a big swing by us,” Seiler said. “We needed a push; we needed something if we wanted to stay in this game. If you give Lebanon a chance, they’re going to take it.”
The two neighbors will meet again in West Canaan on Friday. The game was added after both saw home-and-homes next week — the Raiders against Stevens, the Royals versus Newport — wiped out by COVID-related changes in the opposition’s school schedules.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.