WATERVILLE — Fourteen Oxford Hills basketball players headed north to Colby College for the Middle School Gold Rush Basketball Camp. When they left on Sunday, the entire state was on notice that Oxford Hills basketball will be a force to reckoned with for the foreseeable future.
The players were split into two teams, one made up of six ninth-graders who played in the top division and the other made up of eight younger players competing in a lower division.
The ninth grade team went 14-0 over the weekend, defeating teams from all over Maine and Canada. On Friday evening, they played late into the night, finishing play at 11:30 p.m. and capturing the Midnight Madness Championship. In the final game, they defeated Cape Breton (Canada), 46-43, to win the crown.
On Saturday morning, they were up early and played games all day, going 4-0, before the playoffs began Saturday night. The Viking ninth-graders then plowed through the playoff rounds, defeating Medomak Valley and Cheverus to set up a rematch in the camp championship with Cape Breton. Fighting pure exhaustion, the Vikings rallied and came away with a hard fought 34-29 victory. Team members were Matt Fleming, Colton Carson, Will Dietrich, Spencer Strong, Garrett Record and Cam Slicer.
“Over the weekend, every player took their turn carrying the team, but what stood out was the grit these boys showed, playing 14 games in less than 48 hours, with only six players,” coach Brian Fleming said of his team’s effort.
In the younger division, Hayden Paige, Gavin Hamm, Dennis McAllister, Matt Johnson, Jesse Leonard, Cyrus Hooker, Noah Oufiero and Logan Sumner took to the hardwood. The team went 8-3, only losing to two teams, Winthrop and team Sting of Canada. In the camp semi-finals, the team lost an overtime thriller to Team Sting, who went on to win the camp championship.
“These kids improved every game over the weekend. We played hard and came up just short, but gained a lot of confidence for the upcoming school year,” coach Pat Carson said.
 Overall, Oxford Hills went 22-3 on the weekend, and garnered many positive comments from camp staff and opposing teams, on their skill and sportsmanship.