BREWER, Maine — The Hampden Academy boys basketball team played near-flawless basketball in building a 14-point lead late in the third quarter against undefeated Brewer before the determined Witches used an impressive 16-2 run to tie it with 6:18 remaining in the contest.
But the Broncos responded with a 9-0 run, holding the Witches scoreless for 5:29, and left the Brewer High Gym with a 50-44 triumph in a Tuesday night thriller between two Class A North contenders.
Defending Class A North champ Hampden Academy improved to 7-2 while the Witches, regional and state champs two years ago, fell to 10-1.
Brewer senior forward Owen Fullerton capped Brewer’s 16-2 run with a traditional 3-point play off his driving layup to make it 37-37.
But junior guard Miles Shain began the decisive 9-0 run and gave the Broncos the lead for good with an uncontested layup after junior forward Liam Henaghen corralled a loose ball at midcourt and fed him.
“That was a real big play. That gave us momentum,” said Shain.
“That really started things,” agreed Henaghen.
Henaghen then passed to Aidan Kochendoerfer for an open back-cut layup to make it 41-37.
Following a Brewer turnover, Shain found Andy Henaghen and he converted a baseline layup before Kochendoerfer slipped a pass to Liam Henaghen for another uncontested baseline layup.
“They were denying the passing lanes so we knew we had to backcut. We opened the post and got a few layups in a row so we felt more comfortable and just played our game,” said Liam Henaghen.
Kochendoerfer finished off the run with a free throw to make it 46-37 with 56 seconds left.
The Witches kept rallying and got within four on a Charlie Brydges’ 3-pointer with 9.8 seconds remaining but Liam Henaghen iced it with two free throws.
“I thought we were going to give the game away in the fourth quarter but as soon as we spread the floor, the kids did a good job backcutting and relieving pressure through that,” said Hampden Academy coach Russ Bartlett.
“They’re a really good team at denying the first pass so in practice we really worked on getting those backcuts open in the post and it really opened the game up for us,” said Shain.
Shain led all scorers with 15 points and he also had three rebounds and two steals. Liam Henaghen had 14 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals and junior guard Sawyer Worcester finished with 10 points and three rebounds.
Andy Henaghen, Liam’s senior brother, dished out five assists and hauled in nine rebounds to go with two points.
Kochendoerfer had seven points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Fullerton paced the Witches with 14 points and five rebounds and senior guard Brydges produced 11 points, four rebounds and three assists. Senior guard Steven Youngs had 10 points and five rebounds and 6-foot-7 freshman Oli Higgins chipped in with seven points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
The Broncos’ tenacious man-to-man limited the Witches to only 13 points in the first half as HA took a 24-13 lead into the intermission.
Brewer shot just 6-for-19 in the first half and missed all five of its 3-point attempts.
Shain had eight first-half points and Worcester had seven while Fullerton kept Brewer within striking distance with his seven points.
Brewer began the second half with an 8-5 run before Andy Henaghen fed brother Liam and then Worcester for consecutive threes to make it 35-21.
Brydges then went to work for the Witches, hitting a short jumper, passing to Youngs for Brewer’s first 3-pointer of the game with 2:55 left in the third period, passing to Fullerton for a nifty lefthanded layup and converting his own steal with a layup to make it 37-30 after three periods.
The Witches tied it by scoring the first seven points of the fourth quarter on a Youngs 3-pointer off a Jake Perry pass, a Higgins free throw and Fullerton’s traditional 3-point play.
Bartlett thought his team turned in a solid performance.
“We did a good job helping the helper, we eliminated second-chance opportunities and made enough shots,” said Bartlett.
“Give Hampden credit. (Bartlett) does a great job. But we got another one with them, though,” said Brewer coach Carl Parker. “I’m proud of the kids. They played hard. They didn’t fold their tents. They have a lot of heart.”
