The most important play for the Hermon Hawks came in the first few minutes of Friday night’s boys basketball game.
After earning the No. 2 seed in the Class A North with a strong regular season performance, the Hawks faced off against the No. 7 Lions of Belfast to start the postseason tournament.
And for the first few minutes, it seemed like an upset might be in play.
But as he has done regularly for the Hawks this season, senior guard Carter Wiggin stepped up and took control of the game.
With the teams both sitting at four points in the first quarter, and early momentum seeming to tip toward Belfast, Wiggin delivered the energizing blow that Hermon needed.
He took the ball to the hoop in transition, fought through contact and finished a challenging and-1 basket that electrified the Hermon fans. And then he calmly stepped up and knocked down the free-throw, giving the Hawks a 7-4 lead that they never relinquished.
“I have to thank my teammate. That was a good pass,” Wiggin said. “I got to the hoop, and you know what, we were just ready to go.”
He led all scorers with 21 points.
Despite a push from Belfast to tighten the game in the second half, Hermon held on to win 61-46.
“I think when it went from 4-4 to like 9-4, we got a little bit of distance,” Hermon coach Mark Reed said after the win. “The game opened up a little bit for us. So yeah, those couple plays early for us were big.”
Reed was proud of the way his team responded to the tournament environment on Friday night at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, saying it was a “big game to get under their belt” to start the postseason.
As for Wiggin, he downplayed his early and-1 bucket, saying that the Hawks were ready to play with high energy regardless of his individual effort.
“We were ready to hoop,” Wiggin said. “That didn’t change anything.”