BANGOR, Maine — Senior forward Matt Fleming scored 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Bangor boys basketball team scored its 10th consecutive victory Tuesday night with a 73-65 win over Hampden Academy at Red Barry Gymnasium.
Coach Brad Libby’s Rams are 16-1 heading into their regular-season finale at Edward Little of Auburn on Thursday night in a game that likely will determine the No. 1 seed for the Class AA North tournament.
“That was a high-level game in a playoff atmosphere,” said Fleming. “Definitely coming off three not-so-tough games there were some doubts about how well we would come out against a tough team, but both teams came out hard and definitely played really well tonight.”
Hampden (13-4) dropped from first to second place in Class A North behind Cony of Augusta with a home game left Thursday against Nokomis of Newport. Cony defeated Morse of Bath 93-48 on Tuesday night.
The 6-foot-6 Fleming scored 10 of his points directly after grabbing offensive rebounds and also added four blocked shots and a steal while anchoring a defense that made life difficult for Hampden’s half-court offense after a freewheeling first half.
The Broncos, who played most of the game with a four-guard lineup, led by as many as nine points early in the second quarter before Bangor rallied to within 34-33 at the break.
“At the beginning of the game it was really stressful because we were playing great out there and they were just knocking down all their shots,” said Fleming. “For a lot of teams that can be demoralizing but we kept our heads up and kept fighting and I think just played tougher throughout the entire game.”
The latest version of this rivalry began to turn Bangor’s way in the final minute of the first half. The Rams capitalized on a late Hampden turnover and got a Fleming 3-pointer with two seconds left in the second quarter, then a conventional three-point play by Cummings 13 seconds into the second half gave Bangor a 36-34 lead.
That marked the first of seven straight lead changes before junior forward Henry Westrich buried a 3-pointer from the right corner to ignite a 10-0 un that gave the Rams the lead for good.
Senior guard Damien Vance followed Westrich’s basket with two free throws and a driving layup before Fleming scored on a putback and made 1 of 2 from the line after being fouled while on a fast break to make it 50-42.
Bangor outscored Hampden 19-10 in the third quarter for a 52-44 advantage, then stretched that lead to as many as 11 points four times during the final eight minutes.
“What we tried to do was play five guys on the perimeter, we went small so Matt wouldn’t be in front of the hoop,” said Hampden coach Russ Bartlett. “The plan worked great in the first half because we made shots. In the second half we didn’t make shots, so consequently I thought his defense was probably the difference in the game.
Obviously he was a horse on offense, too.”
Bangor made 21 of its 25 free-throw attempts, while Hampden connected on 9 of 10 tries from the line.
Vance added 18 points and seven rebounds for Bangor, which outboarded Hampden 36-22.
“I think our athleticism and our height against a lot of teams is a mismatch for them,” said Libby. “We’ve really been focusing on getting to the offensive glass in practice, and the guys did a great job of it tonight.”
Cummings scored 15 points and Westrich finished with six points and seven rebounds.
Junior guard Bryce Lausier paced Hampden with 24 points, five rebounds and four assists. Senior guard Kory Winch had 20 points, six rebounds and three assists and sophomore guard Andy Raye added 11 points.
