BATH

It looked like a routine drive to the basket until Jake Steinman flew into the boards and came up with a bloody forehead.

The Mt. Ararat High School forward was knocked out of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference crosstown tussle with Morse on that play and had to watch the rest of the chippy affair from the bench. High pressure defenses, fast breaks, loose balls and trips to the free-throw line were all high in number at Bath Middle School on Tuesday, as both teams were scrapping for their second win of the season.

Ultimately, it came down to a decisive fourth-quarter run for the visiting Eagles, who used the spurt to build a lead before fending off late Morse pressure and holding on to win, 55-51.

“I didn’t think it was as bad as it may have appeared,” Mt. Ararat coach Steve Cox said of the game’s aggressiveness. “I knew both teams were going to battle and that’s the way it’s supposed to be in high school sports. Leave it on the floor.”

The second half was filled with Mt. Ararat (2-4) building a lead and Morse (1-5) chipping away at it. Down nine late in the third quarter, the Shipbuilders went on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit and make it 38-35 heading into the fourth.

With just over six minutes left to play, Ryan Mello capped off another Eagles’ run with a hoop-and-harm play and the lead was back up to 10. Morse kicked it into high gear, gradually cutting it down and pulling within three late on, but a pair of swished free throws from Max Spelke iced the road win in the final minute for Mt. Ararat.

“Speed of the game is where we wanted it,” Morse coach Brian Bennett said. “We wanted 1-3-1 trap at the half, but our backside help was really, really off tonight. We let the bigs get it too much and too much second-level penetration against our zone.”

Leading the way down low was Mt. Ararat sophomore Jared Balser, who posted a double-double that included a game-high 23 points and 12 boards. With at least six inches on everyone on the floor, he dominated the glass and scored numerous put-back buckets.

“Obviously he out-sizes a lot of his opponents,” Cox said of Balser. “The neat thing about what Jared did tonight was he earned more points than we got him, which is just a testament to him starting to understand his role. As a sophomore, it’s hard. It’s hard when you don’t have other seniors your size to kind of look up to. He’s finding his way and

Balser was most deadly on the offensive side of the ball, continually pulling back missed shots and turning them into points. He grabbed six of Mt. Ararat’s 14 offensive rebounds on the night.

“It’s tough to guard when you’re in a zone,” Bennett said. “When you’re in a zone, it’s hard to just find a body that you’re on and box them out, let alone when you give them six to eight inches. Not one of our better games.”

Cole Guerin (three points, two assists) pulled in perhaps the biggest offensive board of the night on his own foul shot in the fourth quarter. Eventually the ball wound up in Balser’s hands and through the hoop to keep the lead intact. Forward Austin Damon finished with 11 points for Mt. Ararat and Spelke came off the bench to notch six.

On the other side of the ball, the typically stingy Eagles defense was at it again, forcing Morse into contested looks and turnovers inside. Point guard Parker Onorato paced things with 19 points and helped the Shipbuilders jump out to an 11-4 run to begin the game. Seven straight points from Mt. Ararat tied things up quickly, though, and from there, points that didn’t come on the fast-break were hard to come by.

“We play tough D. We’re always going to,” Cox said. “We try to contest every single shot and, at the same time, play smart. I thought when it got helter skelter at the end, our sophomores exposed themselves a little, but every one of these games, they’re going to learn from it. We definitely bent, but we didn’t break at the end.”

Sophomore Thomas Warren hit Morse’s lone trey of the night and finished with 15 points, while Dakota Freeman tallied 10 and Tait Nygaard five.

For Bennett, turning around the 1-5 start to the campaign starts in practice.

“We need to come together as a team,” Bennett said. “I saw some things I didn’t like — that is something new. We’ll get back at it tomorrow and we’ve got some things to fix.”

Conversely, it’s Mt. Ararat’s first win since the season opener against Leavitt on Dec. 9. With road tests at Medomak Valley (Jan. 3) and Biddeford (Jan. 6) coming up before a rematch with Morse, it’s the right time to start building momentum.

“We’re feeling pretty good,” Balser. “It’s a pretty big win because we haven’t had the best season, but I think it’s going to turn around and be better for us.”

Mt. Ararat 55, Morse 51

At Bath Middle School

Mt.		Ararat	— 11	14	13	17	—	55
Morse		—	11	10	14	16	—	51

Mt. Ararat — Cole Guerin 1-1-3, Jake Steinman 0-0-0, Ryan Mello 1-2-4, Austin Damon 4-1-11, Jared Balser 11-1-23, Spencer Gerencer 2-1-5, Nick Merrill 0-0-0, Ben Freeman 0-1- 1, Max Spelke 1-3-6, Sean Roberts 0- 2-2. Totals — 20-12-55. Morse — Parker Onorato 7-5-19, Thomas Warren 6-2-15, Dakota Freeman 4-2-10, Damon Osmond 0-0-0, Tait Nygaard 0-5-5, Connor Upham 0- 0-0, Arius Eich 1-0-2, Alex Fernald 0- 0-0. Totals — 18-14-51. 3-point field goals — (MtA) Damon 2, Spelke; (Mo) Warren. Records — Mt. Ararat 2-4, Morse 1- 5. Up next for the Eagles — Jan. 3 at Medomak Valley, 7 p.m. Up next for the Shipbuilders — Friday at home against Leavitt, 6:30 p.m.