It already feels like the playoffs in Maine high school basketball.
The postseason tournament doesn’t get underway until next week, but that didn’t stop the Hampden Academy and Brewer boys from bringing playoff-level intensity to Tuesday night’s clash in Hampden.
The Hampden fans brought the intensity, too, and the Broncos responded with a 50-33 win on senior night.
Hampden senior Miles Shain said that playoff-like atmosphere and support from the home crowd helped the Broncos pull away after three quarters of back-and-forth basketball.
“I think that fueled us,” Shain said after the victory. He helped seal the win with seven points in the fourth quarter and sixteen total Tuesday night.
That was second only to fellow senior Mason Studley, who had 18 points to lead all scorers and accounted for all 12 of the Broncos’ points in the second quarter.
“Mason kept us in the game when we weren’t making shots, and then Miles was kind of a closer for us tonight,” said longtime Hampden coach Russ Bartlett, who was coaching in his final home game and plans to retire at the end of this season.
Bartlett also credited senior Sawyer Worcester for making free-throws down the stretch to keep the game out of reach.
“So I thought those three guys, obviously, played with great poise,” said Bartlett, who also called the home atmosphere “the best crowd we’ve had all year.”
The Hampden lineup is on the shorter side and typically gives up some height to opponents down low. That disparity was even more pronounced Tuesday night as they faced Brewer’s Oli Higgins, who towers over 6-foot-8 and is already one of the region’s top players as a sophomore.
“We’re so small, and we have to make up for that with some toughness,” Bartlett said. “And I thought we did.”
Shain was front and center in that effort, especially in the fourth quarter. The Broncos were only up 29-26 heading into the final period, and Shain hit several tough jumpers in traffic to extend the lead.
He started the fourth with a clutch shot over the long arms of Higgins, who had 13 points to lead Brewer.
The gutsy senior said his ability to adjust playing against Higgins’ size came down to practice and preparation.
“I knew that he’s a lot taller — I have to change how I finish around the rim.” Shain said. “All year, unfortunately, I’ve had to guard people taller than me. So I’ve had a lot of games to work with that, but he’s way taller than anybody I’ve had to match up.”
Shain later made back-to-back buckets to stretch the Hampden lead to seven, and then brought down an offensive rebound to jumpstart the most impressive play of the game. Shain found teammate Trey Collier, who made the toughest finish of the night over Higgins and paid the price by hitting the floor as the ball went in the hoop.
Not long after, Worcester took a charge with 3:28 left that had the home fans in a frenzy as they sensed the game was in hand.
Brewer came into the game 6-10 and one place out of Class A North playoff positioning to start the week. Hampden moved to 9-8 with the win and remained in seventh place, the second-to-last playoff spot in the region.
Shain made sure to leave it all out on the floor in the final home game of his senior season.
“I knew I just wanted to give it my all, leave nothing behind, no regrets,” Shain said. “I have a responsibility every night to come out and to lead. And I knew that I just had to give that little bit of extra effort no matter how tired I was.”
