LIVERMORE FALLS — When Dirigo and Livermore Falls last met, it was in February for the Western Class C title.

The stakes weren’t as high, but the intensity of Wednesday night’s Mountain Valley Conference reunion came pretty close to matching the level of the Augusta Civic Center. The result was virtually the same, too, as Dirigo rode some clutch 3-point shooting to a 43-41 victory.

Spencer Ross and Cody St. Germain led the way with 12 points apiece for the depleted Cougars, while Josh Turbide scored six of his 10 points in the fourth quarter to keep the Cougars (5-0) unbeaten.

Dirigo was playing without starting junior point guard Caleb Turner, the latest victim of a flu bug which caused a number of other players, including starters Arik Fenstermacher, St. Germain and Turbide, to miss practice during the week.

“Maybe we’re getting rid of it early on, so it won’t bite us later,” Dirigo coach Rebecca Fletcher said.

Turbide had enough strength to knock down a pair of 3-pointers as Dirigo built a six-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Brian Maurais (eight points, six assists) hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead in half with 2:32 remaining.

Maurais’ penetration had helped Livermore Falls rebound from a 20-15 halftime deficit to a 26-25 lead midway through the third quarter. So Dirigo, which mixed its defenses up to try to stop Mike Armstrong (16 points, 10 rebounds) inside, went to a zone which helped limit the Andies to 4-for-12 shooting in the fourth quarter.

“We were just trying to throw different looks at them, like going into the 1-3-1 at the end,” Turbide said. “We decided to change up because our regular defense wasn’t working too well. They were getting good penetration.”

Dirigo went into slow-down mode and drew an intentional foul from Mike Castonguay (nine points, eight rebounds) to get two free throws and the ball and make it a two-possession game again.

Hunter Ross made one of two from the line with 50 seconds left on the intentional foul. Livermore Falls (2-3) then sent Ben Holmes to the line, and the junior also made one of two to make it 43-38.

After Hunter Ross missed the front end of a one-and-one with 30 seconds to go, St. Germain fouled Castonguay, who made one of two to cut the deficit to four. Castonguay then scored on a putback to cut it to two with two seconds left, but after a time out, Dirigo inbounded the ball on a long pass to Spencer Ross to run out the clock.

Livermore Falls started the game in a 1-2-2 zone, and Dirigo’s shooters responded by hitting four of six 3 -point attempts, led by Spencer Ross’ trio of treys, to take a 17-8 lead.

“I can’t say how important that was for them to be able to knock those shots down to make them have to extend and make them have to get out of their zone,” Fletcher said. “When they’re in a zone, we can move the ball pretty well, and when we do that we can try to get the high post and the short corner, but life’s easy if you can make threes.”

But Fletcher reminded her team even as they were hot from the outside that they couldn’t live and die by the 3.

“Once those shots are hitting, we need to look more to Cody and Ben in the post just to start something up, but those were a big momentum builder,” Turbide said.

St. Germain battled with Armstrong on the low block for much of the night, and the Cougars caught a break when the rugged senior had to go to the bench with his third foul with 4:32 to go in the first half.

“He definitely out-strengths me, but I played with him most of the game,” St. Germain said. “I had to battle foul trouble there and I know he did, too. He had a good game. I can’t wait to play him again next time.”

Both teams went scoreless for the first 3:28 of the second quarter, and St. Germain’s up-and-under with 2:10 remaining in the half was the first field goal for either team.

Yet the Andies were able to chip away at the deficit with Armstrong on the bench. Jake Keene put back his own miss and Castonguay slashed through the lane for a layup with five seconds to go to make it a five-point game at intermission.

“We did a good job of spreading them out (after Armstrong’s third foul), but it’s tough when your best player has three fouls and he gets taken out of the game,” Livermore Falls coach Travis Magnusson said. “But I’m really proud of my guys. They fought really, really hard. Dirigo is the best team in Class C, so to be in this game in the last 30 second, you’ve got to feel good about it.”