Wolverines Avenge Earlier Loss With 75-66 Triumph Over New Hampton

The Bridgton Academy Wolverines avenged an early season loss to New Hampton, by handing the Huskies a 75-66 set back in North Bridgton.

Coming off an emotional win over South Kent in double overtime, the BA offense was not clicking early as it took over three minutes for either team to record their first field goal of the game. New Hampton held the early edge with a 12-8 lead, but Bridgton was able to fight their way back and extend their lead to 32-24 with 3:43 remaining in the first half. The eight point spread was the largest by any team in the first half, as BA took a 37-31 lead into the intermission.

New Hampton wasted no time erasing Bridgton’s lead to start the second half, and with 14:30 remaining it was 42-42. Four straight points, including two free throws, by TeAndre Hubbard (San Francisco, CA) Bridgton took the lead for good with 13:32 to play. Over the next 3:49 BA would go on a 11-2 run, capped off by a Chance Jones (Knoxville, TN) three pointer, to put the hosts up 53-44.

Ron Blossomgame (Atlanta, GA) converted on a three point play to end a 8-3 New Hampton run and put Bridgton back up by seven. Dashaun Wiggins (Bronx, NY) added a three point play of his own with 4:34 to play, which would eventually be the decisive basket as Bridgton led 65-57.

The Wolverines converted on their foul shots down the stretch, including four straight, by Alex Harris (Richmond, CA) to put the Huskies away. Bridgton received offensive contributions from 11 different players, including five with seven or more points and only two in double figures. Harris led the way with 18, and Jones added 15.

Following the game alumni Jay Height '04 spoke to the team. Head Coach Whit Lesure commented on the game saying, “It wasn’t pretty, but we grinded enough to get it done.” Lesure gave credit to his bench saying, “I was most proud of the ‘fire brigade’ in the second half that got us to play the way we want when I thought our execution and production was going to stop.” Included in the “fire brigade” was Kevin Anthony (Columbus, OH), Justin Miller (Agawam, MA) and Hubbard who after the game said, “We lost to them last time, so this was an important game, and it has given us a boost of confidence, we’ve won two in a row and are ready to knock off the next team.”

The Wolverines will next travel to Connecticut to compete in the St. Thomas More Tournament. Their first game will be against Champlain, a CEGEP team from Canada. Canada native Ruben Kanya (Hamilton, Ontario) said of the up coming games, “We will be playing good teams, and Coach Lesure keeps telling us to focus on defense and our offense will come from it, tonight we hustled and got key rebounds, so our offense could get going.”

The Wolverines improve their record to 3-3 in NEPSAC play and 6-6 over all. Coach Lesure said, “New Hampton is a good team, and we are on our way to becoming a good team.”