HAMPDEN — The Hampden Academy boys basketball team hasn’t lost a home game in more than five years — since Jan. 18, 2010, to be exact.
So when undefeated Edward Little of Auburn came visiting for a showdown of the top two teams in Eastern Maine Class A on Monday afternoon, the streak — or streaks, as is actually the case — provided an additional source of motivation for the Broncos.
And it came in handy as coach Russ Bartlett’s club withstood several Red Eddies’ comeback bids, ultimately combining tight interior defense with uncanny fourth-quarter free-throw shooting for a 68-59 victory.
Top-ranked Hampden, 12-1 this season, extended its homecourt winning streak to 46 games, including a perfect 25-0 in the new gymnasium the Broncos have called home since the start of the 2012-13 season.
“It was a much larger win than us just wanting to win,” Hampden junior forward Conar Moore said. “It was for everyone who had worked toward that home streak.
“We really dug down within ourselves because these guys have been beating us since travel basketball. I can remember playing them back in seventh grade when they were eighth-graders, and they really were just tougher and much more physical.”
This group of Hampden players — now juniors — has narrowed that physicality gap in the intervening years, with its man-to-man defense limiting Edward Little to 35 percent shooting from the field.
Particularly effective was the Broncos’ tandem of Moore and junior guard Jake Black, who limited EL stars Llewellyn Jensen and Ian Mileikis to a combined 12-of-35 shooting effort.
“Hampden’s the best team in the East, defensively they’re better than anybody,” said Edward Little coach Mike Adams, whose second-ranked club falls to 12-1 with a rematch against Hampden slated for next Monday at Auburn.
“We scored 59 only because if you shoot it up enough eventually it has to go in, and that was all we were able to do today against them. We didn’t do any of the things we wanted to do, and I attribute all of that to Hampden’s defense.”
Junior guard Nick Gilpin paced Hampden with 26 points — including an 18-of-19 effort from the line — to go with 12 rebounds and seven assists, while Brendan McIntyre added 17 points and eight rebounds. Black scored 10 points and Moore finished with nine points and 11 rebounds.
Mileikis led EL with 20 points, while Jensen finished with 14 points and nine rebounds and Elijah Roe also scored 14.
While Edward Little was able to limit Hampden’s transition offense for much of the stage, a rapid-fire 9-0 run sparked by the Broncos’ defense may have represented the key moment of the game.
EL, which scored the last six points of the first half to draw within 31-25 at intermission, extended that run to 10-0 when Luke Sterling and Thomas Cedre scored unanswered baskets over the first two minutes of the third quarter.
But Gilpin hit a fast-break jumper and Black took a steal in for a layup to stretch the Broncos’ lead back to 35-29 and prompt a quick EL timeout.
Black then made a 3-pointer from the left wing after another turnover and Moore scored from the baseline on an assist from Brendan McIntyre to push it to 40-29. Black soon followed a Jensen layup with a second 3-pointer to give the Broncos a 43-31 cushion with 3:38 left in the period.
“It’s all an in-the-moment type of thing,” Gilpin said. “You need to know if it’s time to push the ball or time to slow it down and move the ball in the halfcourt and get good looks, and we ran at times but we did a good job of taking care of the ball, too.”
The Hampden lead grew to as much as 47-33 on two free throws each by freshman center Ian McIntyre and Gilpin, but a 65-foot, buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Mileikis rallied Edward Little within 11 by the end of the quarter.
That ignited one more Red Eddies run, as Elijah Roe made a 3-pointer and Sterling and Mileikis each scored inside to cut the gap to 49-43 with 6:41 left.
But the fouls were piling up against EL, and Hampden made the Eddies pay — converting 17 of 19 over the final eight minutes and 15 in a row to end the game.
“It’s been a while since we lost at home, and everybody on the team doesn’t want to be part of the team that ends that win streak,” said Gilpin, who made all 12 of his attempts from the line during the fourth quarter. “That’s something we keep in our minds when we play these games.”
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