Over and over and over. Falmouth High’s top scorer, Davis Mann, and his sidekicks attacked the basket against Fryeburg Academy with hard drives and were rewarded. Mixing in some good old fashioned pump fakes and pivot moves from close range, Mann scored 39 points and never attempted a 3-pointer.
No. 2 Falmouth finished with a 63-36 boys basketball win against No. 6 Fryeburg in Wednesday’s Class A South semifinal. Mann was three points shy of the A South single-game scoring record set in 1976 by Kenneth Rowe of Cheverus and tied last Saturday by Kennebunk’s Theo Pow.
“I saw that who I thought would be guarding me likes to jump a lot in the paint, so I knew the shot fake would work well for me,” said Mann, a 6-foot-3 guard with strength. “You know, I always love driving to the rim, so I’m never going to stop doing that.
“Make or miss, I’m going to keep doing that.”
Up Next
No. 2 Falmouth (17-3) advances to the regional final at 7:45 p.m. Friday at the Expo against No. 1 seed Noble. Falmouth and Noble split this season, each winning one-possession games at home. Fryeburg, which had won four straight games, finished the season 11-9.
How it happened
Mann scored 20 points and Billy Birks added nine more of Falmouth’s 31 first-half points. The Navigators built a lead of 21-5. After Fryeburg responded with a 12-4 surge, Falmouth closed the half on a 6-0 run. Birks’ points were also all the result of going to the basket.
“We wanted to get downhill. We wanted to attack their defense,” said Falmouth coach David Halligan. “We felt we could get to the rim. We only made one 3, and usually games at the end of the year are won in the paint anyway.”
Falmouth put the game out of reach with an 11-0 run to start the second half, including its lone 3-pointer from Birks.s.
Worthy statistics
Mann made seven of his first eight shots. None were from more than 5 feet. He was 9 of 13 in a 20-point first half. After three quarters, he was 14 of 19, and he finished 15 of 23 from the floor. Birks finished with 12 points.
Fryeburg’s Jagger Helwig scored 11 points, seven in the fourth quarter. AJ Navarro came off the bench to also score 11.
They said it
“He’s athletic. He’s got an even better 3-point shot. He didn’t need to use it tonight. He can play inside or out,” – Falmouth coach David Halligan on Davis Mann.
“I think the team played great. I mean defensively, that’s what we really emphasized. Forcing them off the 3-point line and stopping them inside and getting rebounds, and I think we did a great job doing that.” – Falmouth senior Davis Mann.
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