BANGOR, Maine — When the Bangor boys basketball team got off to a 2-4 start this winter, the doubters were in abundance.
Turns out it was just a program that had graduated 11 seniors after winning one state title and back-to-back Eastern Maine Class A championships redefining itself.
That definition was on display at the Augusta Civic Center on Saturday night, as the Rams’ inside play was the dominant feature of a 67-44 regional quarterfinal victory over Hampden Academy.
“We know coming into every game that defense and rebounding are going to be the keys,” said Bangor senior forward Dan Taft, who scored 17 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. “I’m pretty sure we beat them on the boards, and we had a lot of second-chance opportunities that helped us to the win. Our big men played really well.”
Sophomore forward Zach Blodgett matched Taft’s 17 points, and he also grabbed seven rebounds as Bangor surged to a 34-15 advantage on the backboards.
The third frontcourt starter, junior Maxx Alexander, added 11 points while senior point guard Ryan Larochelle scored nine points and anchored a Bangor offense that committed just nine turnovers.
“These kids have responded all year long to all the big games we’ve had,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed after his team’s 12th win in its last 13 games. “We don’t talk about it much, we just play. We all know it’s one-and-out now, we’ve just got to come out and play.”
The win advances No. 5 Bangor (14-5) to a rematch of the 2008 Eastern A final against No. 1 Edward Little of Auburn (17-2) in Wednesday’s 8:30 p.m. semifinal. EL handled No. 8 Mount Ararat of Topsham 61-32 in its quarterfinal and has defeated Bangor twice this season, 50-46 at Bangor on Dec. 23 and 60-51 at Auburn on Jan. 23.
Fourth-seeded Hampden — which did not have a senior on its roster — got a game-high 19 points from junior forward Jacob Moore and 11 from junior guard Nolan Turner. Coach Russ Bartlett’s Broncos finished with an 11-8 record.
Bangor took control from the outset, making sure it got the ball inside on every offensive possession and getting rewarded with a 14-2 run after Moore scored the game’s first basket.
Blodgett twice scored inside, then fed Alexander for a jumper from the key and a layup to account for eight unanswered points.
“We were hoping for them to double down, and if they didn’t, me and Danny could post and go to work down low,” said Blodgett. “If they doubled, we’d pass it back out and make the defense work.”
Noah Burditt answered for Hampden, but Blodgett sandwiched two follow-up baskets around a steal and layup by Larochelle to give Bangor a 14-4 lead.
Blodgett’s put-backs were among 19 points Bangor got directly from offensive rebounds.
Hampden crept within 21-18 midway through the second quarter, but a three-point play by Alexander off a nice spin move and two Blodgett free throws after he grabbed yet another offensive rebound extended the margin to 26-18 at intermission.
Taft scored nine points in the third quarter, all the result of offensive rebounding, as Bangor stretched its lead to as much as 13 points before a 3-pointer by Moore closed the gap to 40-30 by the end of the period.
“Danny went to work in the second half,” said Blodgett.
Hampden eventually was forced to apply full-court defensive pressure in an attempt to come back, but Larochelle and backcourt mate Nate Frazier dribbled through the Broncos to set up layups on the offensive end.
Bangor scored 26 points in the game’s final eight minutes, shooting 9 of 11 from the field.
“Our guards did a great job of pushing the ball down the court and breaking their pressure,” said Taft. “When they broke it, [Hampden’s] defense was broken down in the half-court so we were able to get a lot easy layups for our big men.”
