HAMPDEN, Maine — The Camden Hills Regional High School Windjammers secured a hard-fought 65-55 upset win over the Hampden Academy Broncos on Tuesday night.
Camden Hills avenged a two point loss to Hampden earlier in the season with a swarming performance on defense and on the boards, and cemented the victory by making big shots in the second half. Camden Hills climbed to 9-7 with the win, dealing Hampden only their fourth loss of the season, now with a record of 11-4.
“We wanted that one. At this point in the season, to come beat a great team like that on the road is enormous,” Camden Hills coach Joel Gabriele said after the game. “And to be honest, they beat us at the buzzer in Camden. We had that in the back of our mind and we really wanted to get this. So it feels good.”
The Camden Hills offense ran through constant scoring threat Nolan Ames. And though the junior shooting guard notched 14 points, it was his role as facilitator that had the biggest impact on the game. After a close first half that had the Windjammers up 23-21, Ames got the second half off to a dazzling start with a pass between a defender’s legs in the paint, which teammate Teagan Lowe put home for two points.
Lowe led the Windjammers with 17 points to go with a relentless night of rebounding, and senior Matthias McPhail helped seal the victory with two consequential three point shots in the second half, including one particularly long make with about 3 minutes and 30 seconds left in the game.
“They’re going to bring it to me, and I can’t do it without my teammates, so I have to feed them, get them going, that’s how we win games,” Ames said after the game.
Hampden coach Russ Bartlett credited the Camden Hills role players for stepping up.
“We have to over help to Nolan a little bit because he’s such a good player. We did and they made us pay,” Bartlett said.
Hampden senior guard Aidan Kochendoerfer provided a valiant effort with a game-high 23 points and junior guard Sawyer Worcester added an impressive 14 points in the second half, both helping to keep it a close contest by getting to the basket and repeatedly finishing in traffic. Despite the Broncos getting the game within four points in the last 30 seconds, the Windjammers made their free throws down the end and secured the upset win.
“Coach in the locker room told me at halftime that if we wanted to win the game tonight, I had to score some points in the second half,” Worcester said after the game. “So I really took it upon myself to try to get to the rim.”
Both he and Bartlett said that their team’s defense came up short Tuesday night. It was only the second game this season in which the Broncos have given up more than 60 points.
“Our offense looked better tonight, which was good, but our defense let us down for the first time really all season,” Bartlett added.
“I feel good about the offensive game we played, the defensive game we need to work on. That’s probably the most points we’ve given up this year,” Worcester said. “It’s a good win for them, and we’ve got to get back to work tomorrow, and we’re going to play Brewer on Friday.”
Later this week, Camden Hills will host 8-6 Cony at 7 p.m. Friday. Hampden will welcome 13-2 Brewer, also Friday, for a 6:30 p.m. rematch of the close contest that the Broncos won by 6 points.