YARMOUTH — Yarmouth High, the lone unbeaten team in Western Class B boys’ basketball, rallied from an 18-point deficit Tuesday night and pull- ed out a 69-62 overtime victory against Falmouth.

The Yachtsmen held a 38-16 halftime lead but were unable to hold off the Clippers in the second half.

“Falmouth was prepared and ready, and there was unbelievable energy from them in that first half, and we had a hard time matching that,” Yarmouth Coach Adam Smith said.

“They played a complete game in that first half. They were very formidable. I was impressed.”

Smith said his team turned up its energy level in the second half and chased the Yachtsmen down.

“(Falmouth) was on their toes in the first half,” he said. “They got more on their heels in the second half and overtime. Our energy and our ability to get after it defensively put them on their heels and gave us that extra wind we needed.”

Yarmouth point guard Musseit M’Bareck sent the game into overtime when he put in a jumper from the lane to make it 56-56 with 20 seconds left in regulation.

The Yachtsmen (4-2) scored the first four points of overtime, but Yarmouth, which forced four turnovers in overtime, ran off 12 consecutive points to move into a 68-60 lead with less than 10 seconds left.

“We worked together as a team in the first half but they wore us down,” Falmouth Coach Dave Halligan said.

The Clippers (6-0) applied unrelenting full-court defensive pressure for the entire game.

“We didn’t work as a team in the second half,” said Halligan. “We went a little bit individualistic.”

Yarmouth got back into the game by running off the first 11 points of the second half to make it 36-29 with 5:14 left in the third quarter.

Falmouth took a 45-34 lead into the fourth but the Clippers kept chipping away.

They reeled off an 8-0 run over the final three minutes of regulation to make it 56-56.

Adam LaBrie led the Clippers with 23 points, 16 in the second half and overtime.

Cody Cook, who played much of the second half with four fouls, followed with 16 points.

M’Bareck had 13 points and Colby Sawyer scored 10 for the Clippers.

Jack Simonds, a 6-foot-6 senior center, led the Yachtsmen with 23 points. Colin Coyne, a sophomore guard who sank five 3-pointers, followed with 21.

The Yachtsmen did a pretty good job of handling Yarmouth’s pressure defense in the first half, when the Clippers scored only two fast-break baskets off turnovers.

“They knocked down a lot of shots and that turns it into a half-court game,” Smith said.

“When we’re not getting fast-break points and they’re knocking down shots, it slows it down.”

During the second half and overtime, Yarmouth scored 10 baskets following Falmouth turnovers.

“Yarmouth is one of the best teams around, regardless of class, and that’s what championship-calibre teams do,” Halligan said.

“They find a way to win the game.”

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