Three veteran high school basketball coaches from around the state recently achieved personal victory milestones.
Deering of Portland girls basketball coach Mike Murphy secured his 300th career victory, while boys varsity coaches Russ Bartlett of Hampden Academy and Mike Zamarchi of Marshwood of South Berwick each joined the 200-win club.
Bartlett earned his 200th victory Monday evening as the unbeaten Broncos scored a 73-52 road victory at Camden Hills of Rockport, then added win No. 201 a night later with a 71-46 homecourt win over Cony of Augusta.
Bartlett reached 200 wins in just his 13th season as the varsity coach at his alma mater.
The 1995 Hampden graduate now has a career varsity record at Hampden of 201-59, good for a winning percentage of .773.
That record includes a 175-50 regular-season mark and 26-9 in tournament play leading to three Class A state championships and six Eastern Maine titles during his first 12 years on the Broncos’ bench.
Hampden currently is on its strongest run since Bartlett took over the program with a 92-5 mark since the start of the 2011-12 season. That includes four straight Eastern A titles, state championships in 2013 and 2015 and the bulk of the Broncos’ 52-game homecourt winning streak since Jan. 18, 2010.
Hampden is 9-0 this season and ranked atop the Class A North standings.
Murphy scored his 300th career victory with Deering’s 49-38 win at Lewiston on Dec. 22 and now has a coaching record after Tuesday’s 51-37 victory over Windham of 303-179, good for a .628 winning percentage over 25 seasons.
Murphy spend his first 12 varsity coaching seasons at Scarborough, followed by five years at Westbrook before taking the Deering post at the start of the 2008-09 season.
His teams won at least 14 games in six of his first seven full seasons at Deering, and the Rams are 7-2 this winter and ranked second in Class AA North.
Murphy’s 2009 Deering team went 22-0 to win the Class A state championship.
Zamarchi is in his 21st year at Marshwood, his alma mater, and gained his 200th victory with a recent 53-48 win at Morse of Bath.
The Knights are 3-5 in Class A South after a 62-46 loss to Massabesic of Waterboro on Tuesday night, and Zamarchi is 201-188 since taking the Marshwood post at the start of the 1995-96 season.
A scheduling gauntlet for Bangor
The 2-7 record compiled by the Bangor boys basketball team certainly suggests some struggles for the youthful Rams in their first season of Class AA competition.
It also reflects a grueling schedule.
Of the Rams’ nine opponents, six were undefeated when Bangor faced them — Class AA foes Edward Little of Auburn (0-0 when the Red Eddies visited Bangor in the season opener), Cheverus of Portland (2-0), Deering of Portland (4-0) and Portland (6-0) along with Hampden Academy (3-0) and Brewer (6-0), the top two teams in Class A North.
Bangor’s other games were against once-beaten Oxford Hills of South Paris (7-1 when the Vikings came to the Queen City on Tuesday night) and the two teams the Rams have defeated, Lewiston (0-1 when it faced Bangor) and Windham (2-3).
Bangor’s opponents were a combined 30-5 when they faced the Rams and now are a collective 56-22.
It won’t get easier anytime soon for coach Carl Parker’s club, whose next game is against yet another unbeaten opponent when the Rams host 8-0 Thornton Academy of Saco at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
