PITTSFIELD – The Maine Central Institute boys basketball team faced an unusual prospect as it hosted Mount View of Thorndike in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B matchup Wednesday night – being rusty less than two weeks into the season.

The Huskies had been idle since their season-opening win at Lincoln Academy of Newcastle eight days earlier, and admittedly hadn’t been practicing that well since then.

But rust? Far from it, as MCI led from start to finish in cruising to a 57-33 victory over the Mustangs in its home opener at Wright Gymnasium.

“We played very well in just about every aspect, especially for only being on the floor one time,” said MCI coach Mike Brown. “We handled the ball pretty well and got good shots, and our defense is decent and our rebounding is pretty good. “Without really knowing what to expect because we hadn’t played much, I was very happy.”

Indeed, the Huskies did just about everything they wanted to do – shooting a respectable 43 percent (17 of 36) from the field, forcing 18 Mount View turnovers and outrebounding the Mustangs 30-16.

“What we’ve done so far in preseason and in our first game is we’ve rebounded really well, even against some of the bigger teams,” said Brown, whose 2-0 club visits 4-0 Maranacook of Readfield on Friday night. “This was a bigger, more physical team tonight, but our guys are pretty athletic and they get to the ball quickly.”

Pivotal to that rebounding success was 6-foot-4 senior forward Andy Tracy, the former Ellsworth High standout who grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to go with 12 points in his second game at MCI.

“Andy’s fit in really well with everything we’re trying to do,” said Brown. “If we need him to go out and handle the ball he can, and he works in the post really well. He didn’t really shoot from the perimeter tonight like he has sometimes, but he’s pretty versatile.”

Tracy was one of four MCI players to score in double figures. Senior forward Eric Sobey, a transfer from Bangor Christian, had 14 points and seven rebounds, while junior forward Victor Quint shook off an ankle injury that sidelined him for much of the first quarter to score 12 and senior guard Cody Hart added 10.

MCI made 4 of its first 5 shots to jump out to a 10-2 lead six minutes into the game.

“We looked pretty flat when we came out, and they came out on fire,” said Mount View coach Jim Pettis. “As soon as they got a couple of baskets I could see heads go down and I knew we were going to be in for a long night.”

Mount View (2-1) did creep within 20-18 midway through the second quarter thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by senior guard Kyle Harvey (a game-high 18 points), but MCI scored the final eight points of the half to take a 28-18 cushion.

The Huskies’ man-to-man defense then limited Mount View to two points in the third quarter, a fast-break layup by Harvey with 3:47 left in the period that accounted for the first scoring by either team in the second half.

MCI then countered with 11 straight points to extend its lead to 39-20 early in the fourth period, as Mark Trombley and Sobey each hit a 3-pointer to highlight the run.

HUSKIES 57, MUSTANGS 33

Mount View (2-1) MCI (2-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Derby 0 0 0 0 0 Nichols 1 2 4

Keller 0 1 0 0 0 Hart 3 6 10

Cronin 0 0 0 0 0 Glencross 0 2

Jean 0 0 0 0 0 Trombley 1 2 3

Price 0 4 0 2 0 Neace 0 0 0

Wentworth 1 6 0 0 2 McGrady 0 1 0

Carter 2 4 0 0 5 Quint 4 7 12

Harvey 7 14 1 4 18 Sobey 4 8 14

Miles 0 0 0 0 0 Tracy 3 11 12

Haffner 1 4 0 0 2 Souliere 0 0

Caron 1 3 1 2 4 Morton 0 0 0

Dimick 0 4 0 1 0 Marcoux 0 0 0

Tripp 1 2 0 0 2

Totals 13 42 2 9 33 Totals 16 37 20 29 57

Mount View 8 18 20 33

MCI 13 28 37 57

3-pt. goals – Mount View (5-15): Harvey 3-9, Caron 1-1, Carter 1-2, Price 0-1, Wentworth 0-1, Keller 0-1; MCI (5-13): Sobey 3-4, Hart 1-2, Trombley 1-2, Tracy 0-5

JV: Mount View 65-56 (OT)

Attendance: 500 (est.)