By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

TURNER – Few players can get hotter faster on a basketball court than Brandon Powell.

But the soft-spoken Leavitt forward rarely lets anybody hear about it.

“Brandon is one of these stoic guys. He doesn’t let on too much,” said Leavitt coach Mike Remillard. “There’s nothing to read. When he’s on, it’s his stoic face. When he’s off, there’s his stoic face.”

“But,” the coach added, “when he’s on, you can at least talk to him. When he’s off, you can’t talk to him. He holds himself to a high standard.”

Powell’s second-half heroics have helped the Hornets become one of the surprise teams of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference. Leavitt goes into tonight’s game at Skowhegan with a 7-2 record, the best start in the school’s brief Class A history. The Hornets have a balanced, veteran team that doesn’t base its offense around one guy, even someone as talented as the 6-foot-2 senior Powell.

Few players have had more of an impact on their teams this year than Powell, though. He’s averaging 16 points per game, shooting 43 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.

More important, he has been a spark for the Hornets at the most opportune times. Last month, he scored 20 points in the second half to lead the Hornets to their first win ever over Mt. Blue. Last week, he scored 14 points in the third quarter to help lead the Hornets out of their first-half doldrums and onto a win over Edward Little.

Powell’s facial expression rarely changed during the salvo, even as he rained four 3-pointers on the Eddies in the span of about five minutes. The lack of emotion masks a confidence to take the team on his shoulders when it needs him most.

“When we’re down and the game’s on the line, I want the ball in my hands. I’m not going to lie,” he said.

Still, Powell gets his opportunities in the flow of Leavitt’s offense. The outburst at Edward Little came as the Hornets were trying to establish penetration and force the EL defense to collapse.

“Once I hit one (3-pointer at EL), I knew I’d sparked something, but then when I hit two, everybody got going,” Powell said.

“You can just tell (when you’re in the zone), especially when you get the and-one’ (foul shot) from making a 3-pointer,” he added.

Part of Powell’s confidence comes from the fact that he is far from a one-man team. The Hornets are capable of putting five or six players in double figures on any given night.

“These guys feed off each other,” Remillard said. “When one guy gets going like that, it picks up everybody else.”

It’s not surprising to Remillard that Powell is often the one to get the Hornets going.

“I haven’t seen a big man, a guy that comes in and plays the 4′ slot, be able to run the floor, shoot, dribble, and play defense like Brandon does in a long time,” Remillard said.

The Hornets hope to go where they haven’t been in a long time, deep into the tournament. They’re already on their way to the biggest turnaround in the KVAC. Leavitt won just two games last season.

“It was rough last year, going 2-16,” Powell said. “You learn something going 2-16. We have more of a team bond this year.

“We knew we had (a turnaround) in us. It was just a matter of determination and practice,” he added.