FARMINGTON – The pace of the first 11 minutes of Saturday’s rematch between defending state champion Hampden Academy and Mt. Blue wasn’t to Hampden coach Russ Bartlett’s liking, so he called a time out and delivered one message to his team – get organized.
The Broncos got their house in order, closed out the first half with an 11-0 run and then held the Cougars in check in the second half to sweep the season series with a 56-48 win.
Hampden, which beat Mt. Blue 71-63 in the season opener, overcame 31 turnovers with 67-percent shooting from the field and 79-percent accuracy from the free throw line. They also kept 6-foot-10 center Jordan Cook involved in the offense throughout the game.
Cook dominated the first quarter of the first game, then wasn’t much of a factor the rest of the way. He scored at least four points in every quarter Saturday and finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds. J Uhrin added 13 for the Broncos (9-1). Noah Paytas led Mt. Blue (6-3) with 16 points, while John Moloney and Steve Wells contributed nine apiece.
Following a sloppy first quarter, the Cougars broke out to their biggest lead at 16-11 on a pair of Moloney hoops and a Jon Cleary free throw. Bartlett then called time and settled his players down.
“We were disorganized,” Bartlett said. “I told the kids that (the Cougars) were dictating tempo and that’s just what we didn’t want to have happen. As soon as we got some ball movement, we were able to get the big guy some touches and work off of that.”
“I felt pretty good about the way we were playing. We did what we wanted to do early on,” Mt. Blue coach Jim Bessey said. “We tried to drive the ball to the basket, and we did that. We had Adam (Gilbert) screening on the perimeter to take the big guy away from the hoop, which worked pretty well.”
The only problem was, the Cougars just couldn’t knock down their shots in the first half, going 7-for-27 from the floor. Once the Broncos, who hadn’t played in a week, regained their sharpness, Mt. Blue was in for a long day.
Three-pointers played a big role in the Broncos’ win in the opener. They attempted just five 3-pointers Saturday, however. Their first trey attempt didn’t come until just after the time out, but it was a key one. Uhrin drilled a trey and then a foul-line jumper to spark the run that gave Hampden a 22-16 lead at halftime.
“Most of our 3-point action comes off of inside-out action in the halfcourt, and Jordan was able to, when he caught the ball, basically turn and score,” Bartlett said.
Cook and Max Silver (nine points) went to work in the third quarter to help the Broncos build their biggest lead heading into the fourth, 45-28. Wells started to heat up for the Cougars in the fourth and scored all nine of his points in a 15-6 run that pulled them within eight with 2:33 left.
The Broncos put the victory on ice by hitting seven-of-eight free throws in the final three minutes. Their turnover woes peaked in the final quarter, but the Cougars weren’t able to capitalize as much as they would have liked. They took 22 more shots than Hampden for the game, but ended up shooting 39 percent from the floor.
“We’d steal the ball, and then, a couple of times, we’d turn it over after we stole it,” Bessey said. “If we could have made a few more baskets, maybe we could have kept the tempo a little bit more in our favor.”
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