AUGUSTA, Maine — The Hampden Academy boys basketball team hasn’t lost at home for more than five years, with 47 consecutive victories on campus since Martin Luther King Day in 2010.
But the Augusta Civic Center has become quite the home away from home for the three-time defending Eastern Maine Class A champs, who scored their 11th straight victory there Saturday by pulling away from Brunswick 63-46 in a regional quarterfinal.
“We hadn’t played a game in nine days, so it definitely had been a while since we’ve been in an intense environment,” said Hampden junior guard Nick Gilpin, “and a tournament environment is completely different from any other game so it’s really hard to go from just practicing all week to a big game.”
No. 2 Hampden (17-2) will face No. 3 Messalonskee of Oakland in Wednesday’s semifinals. The Eagles (14-5) topped No. 6 Oxford Hills of South Paris 58-42 behind 31 points from Nick Mayo.
Gilpin, the Darling’s/BDN Player of the Game, amassed 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for Hampden. Jake Black added 15 points — all in the second half — and four steals, Conar Moore collected nine points and seven rebounds and Brendan McIntyre also scored nine points.
Thomas Hanson led No. 7 Brunswick (9-10) with 10 points while Corban Teel and Alex Bandouveres scored nine apiece.
The Dragons trailed just 16-15 through one period after a banked-in 3-pointer from just inside halfcourt by Gilpin that beat the buzzer, and hung within 25-19 at halftime.
“I thought we had a little game rust in the first half, but to only give up 19 points defensively I was pretty happy with that,” said Hampden coach Russ Bartlett. “We didn’t finish layups in the first half, but in the second half we made those layups and settled in.”
Black also found the touch from long range.
The junior guard, 0-for-6 from the field in the first half, hit three 3-pointers and scored 11 points during the first three minutes of the third quarter to stretch Hampden’s lead to 38-24.
“My dad always tells me to keep shooting if you’re hot, and if you’re not keep shooting, they’ll go in eventually,” said Black.
