HAMPDEN, Maine — The Hampden Academy boys basketball team had run off eight consecutive victories since a season-opening loss at Brewer.
So combine the revenge factor with the determination to speed up its game to address a underwhelming offensive effort through the first half of the schedule, and perhaps it’s no surprise that win No. 9 came rather easily for the Broncos.
Junior point guard Nick Gilpin came up one rebound short of a triple-double and classmate Jake Black drilled seven 3-pointers — including six on seven attempts after intermission — as Hampden dominated the Witches 84-47 in their rematch Thursday night.
“I just think there was all the energy we had from the first game of the season,” junior forward Brendan McIntyre said. “They played a good game that first game and beat us, and we just came out with the energy that we didn’t want them beating us again, especially at home, so we gave it our all the entire game.”
Gilpin was the catalyst, amassing game-high totals of 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds as he sped up a Hampden offense that had scored more than 60 points just once this season while averaging 52.4 points per game through its first nine outings.
“Nick is very telling about our energy level because he’s the guy who’s got the ball in his hands and he’s the guy who starts our defense,” Hampden coach Russ Bartlett said. “His ability to be a great leader in that spot is important to us, and I thought right from the beginning tonight he was a great leader in keeping pressure on them offensively and being a pest defensively.”
That continuous pressure helped Hampden race out to a 43-20 halftime lead as the Broncos scored more points during those 16 minutes than they did throughout their 43-38 loss at Brewer on Dec. 5.
While the offense was fluid, the defense was tenacious, forcing 13 early Brewer turnovers.
“I thought we got some stops, and then in transition we got some easy baskets,” Bartlett said. “We talked to Nick about carrying the ball a little further in transition and not throwing it ahead so early, so now when he’s delivering the ball it’s to a scoring opportunity, and I thought we ran the floor well and got guys in the right spots and they made shots tonight.”
Hampden shot 60 percent (18-for-30) from the field in the first half.
“Coach told us before the game that he wanted us to try to get into transition more,” said Gilpin, who had 14 points and six assists before the break to go with 13 first-half points from McIntyre.
“He wanted us to push the ball. Earlier in the season I would walk the ball up after the other team scored, but before the game coach told me he wanted me to jog it up and get the pace going faster. He said that would benefit us because our offense has been struggling a little this year.”
Black made Hampden’s first-half shooting accuracy seem rather pedestrian after the break. The 6-foot-3 junior opened the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers off feeds from Gilpin, then made a third straight long-range shot moments later as Hampden stretched its lead to 60-32 by the end of the period.
“Anytime I was open I was willing to take the shot and they were just falling for me tonight,” Black said. “I’d like to keep that up.”
He indeed kept it up early in the fourth quarter, converting three more from downtown before both teams cleared their benches.
“Just making a couple in a row gets Jake going offensively,” Gilpin said. “It changes his mind-set because he realizes he’s hot and he knows we’re going to get him the ball when he’s hot because we trust him to take those shots.”
Black finished with 21 points and McIntyre scored 19 for 9-1 Hampden, which entered the night as the top-ranked team in Eastern Maine Class A.
Matt Pushard and Logan Rogerson each scored 14 points for 5-5 Brewer.
