BUCKFIELD – It’s probably not nice to give away scouting reports as teams are preparing for regional basketball tournament quarterfinals in Augusta, but here’s a freebie about the Buckfield boys.
Somebody put a hand in Jamie Henderson’s face, already.
Henderson nailed four unchallenged 3-pointers in the first half of Wednesday night’s Western Class D preliminary game against Waynflete. The sophomore’s final strike, two seconds before the halftime horn, gave the sixth-seeded Bucks the lead for keeps in their 53-44 elimination of the No. 11 Flyers.
Buckfield (9-10) avenged a regular-season road loss to the private school from Portland. Henderson didn’t play that night. Neither did Jared Martin, Buckfield’s point guard and its lone senior.
“I was still concerned,” said Buckfield coach Cam Cowett, “but it’s pretty tough to win a prelim game in another team’s gym.”
Tougher, still, when a gamer such as Henderson can’t be left alone when he’s 20 or even 30 feet from the basket. Two of the football quarterback’s 3-pointers came from beyond spitting distance of the arc.
And when the Flyers adjusted to Henderson’s range and super-glued themselves to his shirt, he simply dumped off to low-post pests Jeff Bennett, Sean Ridge and Danny Hayes for easy baskets.
“We started getting the ball inside more in the second half,” Henderson said. “We turned the ball over too much in the second quarter and kept them in it.”
Henderson finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals. Bennett scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half.
Waynflete (5-12) never recovered after falling behind 24-23 on Henderson’s buzzer-beater before the break. The Flyers missed their first six shots of the third quarter and committed four turnovers before Lucas O’Neill broke the spell with an uncontested hoop.
That trimmed Buckfield’s lead to five, but Hayes and Bennett combined for three quick buckets, all dishes from Henderson, to make it a double-digit edge.
Hayes, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, added 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the Bucks. Junior reserve Sean Ridge, whom Cowett calls his most improved player this season, chipped in six points and 10 boards.
“Danny Hayes is tough when he plays awake. They all are,” Cowett said. “It’s tough with a young team. You almost have to call a time out every two minutes to remind them to be patient.”
Lance Callender led all scorers with 21 points for Waynflete, which also played only one senior.
Buckfield advances to a quarterfinal date with seven-time reigning regional champion Valley High of Bingham at 9 a.m. Saturday. The last Western Maine team to beat the Cavaliers at Augusta Civic Center was Waynflete in a 1997 quarterfinal.
“They pretty much took it to us twice this season,” Henderson said. “We can’t let them run on us.”
Then again, the Cavaliers better not let Henderson start raining 3s on them, either.
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