The Hampden Academy boys’ basketball team used 13 steals and four blocks to smother the visiting Brewer Witches 59-46 on Tuesday night in Hampden, good for their 10th consecutive victory.
Down 13-12 at the end of the first quarter, the Broncos outscored the Witches 15-4 in the second quarter and never trailed again, improving to 11-1 on the season.
Hampden has not allowed more than 50 points in six consecutive games, while Brewer (4-9) has lost six straight and is currently out of the Class A North playoff picture at ninth.
“We’ve been defending better as of late,” 21-year Hampden Academy head coach Russ Bartlett said. “We’re getting to a point where we’re understanding how important every possession is — playing 32 minutes of lock-in defense.”
Hampden’s defensive effort was universal on Tuesday night, with five different Broncos stealing the ball at least twice, and senior Zach McLaughlin and sophomore Liam Henaghen getting two blocks apiece.
On offense, McLaughlin led all scorers with 26 points, and Hampden senior JJ Wolfington tacked on eight points, 12 rebounds (four offensive) and seven assists. McLaughlin is averaging 27 points per game this season, and Wolfington is averaging 16.5.
Junior Aiden Kochendoerfer scored nine points of his own, and Henaghen had eight.
“We’re not leading scorers like [Zach] and JJ, but we’re always finding ways to compete, always finding ways to help the team win,” Henaghen said. “We can always bring it on defense every single night. It’s a lot of maturing mentally; early in the year, we’d play solid for three quarters but let teams back into the game. Heading into the postseason, that [maturity] is gonna help us a lot.”
Junior Steven Youngs was Brewer’s only double-digit scorer on Tuesday night, with 10 points (two 3-pointers) and two assists. Juniors Owen Fullerton and Jake Perry each had nine points, junior Charlie Brydges scored eight (two 3-pointers) and senior Cayen Philbrick scored eight.
“If we had ball security, we’d be a lot better team,” Brewer head coach Carl Parker said. “We didn’t take care of the basketball. I really believe that we can compete with them, but we gotta win a couple games.”
Next up, Brewer will host Messalonskee (8-4) Thursday at 6:30 p.m., and Hampden will play Lawrence (6-7) away on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
