FALMOUTH – Matthew Packard scored 15 points Saturday to lead Falmouth to a 61-58 victory against Poland in a Western Maine Conference schoolboy basketball game at Falmouth High.

Packard’s production was part of a balanced offense for the Yachtsmen (4-0). Grant Burfeind added 12 points, Alex Cattell had 11 and Jack Cooleen 10.

Falmouth got off to a great start and worked its way to a 22-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The sizeable early advantage came as a result of a 12-2 run in the final three minutes of the quarter.

“You know, Poland is probably the biggest dark horse in our league right now,” said Cattell, who scored five points in the first-quarter run.

“I think we were a little overconfident coming in. It was a barnburner, but we stepped up the defense and our offense came off of that.”

Jacob Littlefield helped get the Knights (2-2) right back into the game, leading a 12-6 charge to start the second quarter.

He scored seven of his game-high 23 points as Poland crept within 28-22 with 3:10 gone in the quarter.

Littlefield then punctuated the first half with a steal and a dunk in the final seconds to send the teams into the half with Falmouth leading 40-34.

“Poland’s one of those teams that never quits,” said Falmouth Coach Dave Halligan. “They work and work and work and if you don’t take care of business, they’ll be hanging around at the end. And that’s what they did in this game.”

The Knights continued to chip away at the Falmouth lead as the second half progressed, eventually closing within two points with 2:47 left the third quarter. Littlefield capped a 13-6 run with the final five points, on a basket followed by a 3-pointer.

Falmouth answered with the next four points, on baskets by Matt Kingry and Charlie Fay, to restore a six-point lead, but Littlefield drained another 3-pointer to cut the Yachtsmen lead to 53-50 heading into the final quarter.

Three-pointers by Packard and Kingry in the opening 21/2 minutes of the final quarter put Falmouth ahead by nine. But the Knights scored the next eight points, including a 3-pointer by C.J. Martin with 18.9 seconds left, to reduce Falmouth’s lead to 59-58.

Packard then hit two free throws with 10.5 seconds left to pad the Yachtsmen lead and set up a final Poland possession. The Knights got the ball to Littlefield for a tying attempt from 3-point distance that wouldn’t fall.

“We’re both good teams and we played really well,” said Littlefield.

“Falmouth’s tough to play. We came in here last year and held on and won, but this year we came up a little short.”