There was no easing into things on this year’s schedule for the Orono and Old Town boys basketball teams, with the neighbors and rivals meeting in just the second week of the season.
And Orono senior point guard Brady Hews was ready for the early test, unleashing 35 points on Tuesday night to help his Red Riots sail past the Coyotes 60-41 in Old Town.
“My teammates were getting me open looks,” Hews said after the win. “I was just getting downhill and finishing.”
It wasn’t long ago that Hews, the floor general on the court for Orono, was playing a similar role on the pitch for the Red Riots regional champion soccer team. In both sports, Hews said he enjoys playing the role of facilitator for his teammates.
But he also looked plenty comfortable scoring points, and lots of them, in Tuesday’s rivalry game.
Despite Orono dropping a class and now playing in Class C while Old Town remains in Class B, the rivalry is still going strong.
“It’s awesome, the crowds are great,” Hews said. “The energy, it just makes you want to play harder.”
Old Town head coach Mark Melvin is in his first year at the helm, but after spending last year as an assistant for the Coyotes, he’s already familiar with the extra emphasis that comes with playing Orono.
“It’s kind of a unique rivalry in the fact that they love to play each other and it’s a rivalry, but at the end, they’re all friends,” Melvin said. “And that’s the greatest thing about it. It’s great for this game.”
Longtime Orono head coach Ed Kohtala also highlighted the mutual respect between the rivals.
“It’s a different animal,” Kohtala said. “There’s a level of intensity — I’ve always said it’s one of the most healthy rivalries I’ve been in, because there’s great respect between the two schools.”
That doesn’t mean it’s always warm and fuzzy, however.
“But like any rivalry game, when you have that much emotion, if it turns one way, it can get bad,” Kohtala added. “When you win one, be happy. You don’t know when you’ll get the next one.”
And his team got the win Tuesday night, thanks in part to Hews’ big performance. Kohtala didn’t realize that Hews had put up that many points, and had been focused primarily on trying to slow down Old Town’s offense.
“I’m excited for him,” Kohtala said about Hews, while emphasizing that defense will be the key for Orono moving forward. “That’s great, but we’ll be as good as we are defensively.”
The Orono offensive will have good nights and bad, the coach said, and teams will go after Hews in different ways.
“But it’s a testament to the hard work he’s put in, and the skill level he has,” Kohtala added about Tuesday night’s performance.
Fellow Orono senior Bergen Soderberg added 13 points for the Red Riots, and Brooks Vose led the way for Old Town with 10.
Both teams are faced with the task of replacing their main leader from a season ago, with Old Town’s former dominant force in the paint, Emmitt Byther, moving on to play at the University of Maine and former Orono centerpiece Will Francis now playing football at Husson University.
For Orono, that means Hews and Soderberg will need to step into the primary leadership role along with senior Matthew Allen, who is still recovering from a finger injury he sustained as the Orono soccer goalie.
Hews said the trio is prepared for their leadership responsibilities, and said his team is ready to have Allen back when possible.
“We can’t wait. He’s a big guy that’s been there for us, he gets rebounds, defends well,” Hews said about Allen. “And he’s a big piece of our team.”
And dropping down to Class C won’t change the Red Riots’ approach as they work to pick up more wins, according to the senior point guard.
“Our team is just a bunch of dogs,” Hews said.
