FALMOUTH — After winning his 600th game as coach of the Falmouth High boys basketball team, Dave Halligan said “it just means I’m old. And I’ve been around a long time.”

Then, as he has so many other times, he made sure that the credit for Tuesday’s come-from-behind 70-65 Class A win against Westbrook went to his players – specifically on this night to senior guard Davis Mann, who carried the Navigators (2-1) with 41 points.

“That’s what senior captains do. Davis is our senior player who is our go-to guy,” Halligan said. “Some other guys had tough games. A lot of it was due to (Westbrook’s) defense. What I liked was our compete level.”

Halligan, 73, is in his 39th year as Falmouth’s head coach and is now the third high school basketball coach in Maine to reach 600 wins. Dick Barstow, who coached girls basketball at several schools, including Central Aroostook, Presque Isle and Waterville, retired in 2008 with 664 wins. I.J. Pinkham won 659 games in 49 seasons of boys basketball, the last 43 at Boothbay. Pinkham retired after the 2019-20 season.

“I think he absolutely knows what he’s doing,” Mann said of Halligan. “He’s a great coach. I really like his defensive coaching. I think he’s a great defensive coach. He makes us work on defense a lot in practice.”

Getting No. 600 was far from certain, especially when Westbrook (0-3) scored the first 12 points of the third quarter to take a 41-35 lead. Then Mann, who scored 14 in the first quarter but missed his only shot in the second, took over. Halligan said one bit of coaching he and his staff did was to point out at halftime that Mann needed to be taking more shots.

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“I knew I needed to take more in the third,” said Mann, who was able to slash into the paint, absorb significant body contact and still make shots. He scored all 13 of Falmouth’s third-quarter points over the final 4:02, then scored his team’s first seven in the fourth to put Falmouth ahead 55-50. Mann helped seal the win by making eight consecutive free throws (12 of 13 for the game).

Milestones and accolades are nothing new for Halligan.

Halligan became the first Maine high school coach to win 500 games in two sports when he hit the mark in soccer in 2022. He was inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame this past summer. He’s twice been named national boys soccer coach of the year — by USA Soccer in 1998 and by the National Federation of State High School Associations for 2019-20. Halligan has won 12 state titles in soccer and six in basketball, all at Falmouth.

Westbrook Coach Bryan Hoy has now seen Halligan reach two milestones first hand. Halligan’s 1,000th overall win came against Westbrook early in the 2019-20 basketball season. Hoy is also the head soccer coach at South Portland.

“He knows exactly what I’m going to do before I do it myself,” Hoy said. “He’s just always a step ahead of us. Offensively, defensively. Soccer, basketball. It’s the same way. He’s been through so many games, he’s seen it all.”

When win No. 600 was completed, Halligan accepted a quiet handshake and hug from longtime assistant coach Jamie Hilton. No fanfare. No special banner. Apparently there were balloons in the locker room. Some of his players weren’t even aware their coach had hit a rare milestone. Later, as the crowd thinned out, Halligan accepted a few congratulatory handshakes from former players, parents and friends, much like he’s done after any other win.

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“Kids grow up in Falmouth wanting to play for Coach Halligan and be part of that tradition,” said James Coffey, Falmouth’s athletic director. “Dave is Falmouth. He is our tradition. For him to get his 600th tonight was just awesome.”

It won’t be long before the 1970 Falmouth High grad will be reaching another shared milestone. He and his wife, Joy, are approaching their 50th anniversary.

“Truth be known, coaching is his first love. He would not say that, but it’s true,” laughed Joy Halligan, who was in the stands on Tuesday along with Halligan’s sister, Pam Loubier of Gorham. “He went to college to become a coach.”

Halligan, his brother and five sisters grew up in Falmouth with their parents, David Sr. and Janet. His late parents were among his biggest fans, Loubier said.

For Halligan, the 600th win was significant because “it means a lot of fond memories of a lot of great players, parents that support the program. The school and community support the program. I just told these guys that this is about them, and all the guys before them, and that I’m so proud that they have a reputation of competing to the very end and all of our teams have done that.

“And that’s all you can ask for.”

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