HAMPDEN – Character is an intangible, and often elusive, quality. But, its presence was obvious in the play of the Hampden Academy basketball team here Thursday night.

The Broncos bounced back from a disastrous second quarter and withstood a fourth-quarter comeback by Brewer while pulling out a 51-49 Big East Conference basketball victory.

Coach Jim DiFrederico’s Broncos, playing without two regulars, proved without any doubt that they are a team that is beginning to show its character.

Sophomore Reid Harris made two free throws to put Hampden Academy ahead 50-49 with 13 seconds remaining and Donnie Lawrence made the front end of a one-and-one with two seconds to play to provide the hosts with the margin of victory.

Brewer’s last-second bid failed when a 3-pointer by Brian Colman missed at the buzzer.

“This is a bigger win for us than I think a lot of people realize, under the circumstances,” DiFrederico said, referring to the absence of junior forward Josh King and sophomore guard Craig McBean, who were out with the flu.

“We could have just folded after this if we had lost,” DiFrederico said. “The kids overcame adversity. It’s a real big one for us to win at home.”

The Witches, now 3-2, had taken a 24-20 halftime lead, outscoring the Broncos 12-2 in the second quarter behind Andy Dore’s six points. Brewer trailed 18-12 at the end of one.

Hampden was 0-for-11 from the field in the second quarter and committed eight turnovers. That came after Jon Kunz scored six points during a strong first quarter by the Broncos.

“This is what I told them at halftime: `We played the best first quarter that we have played all year, but the second quarter was the worst we’ve played in three years’ ” DiFrederico said.

Hampden used a half-court trap to help jump-start its offense in the third quarter. Trailing 32-26, the Broncos outscored the Witches 15-3 during the last 4:37 of the quarter.

Jack Kelly ignited the spurt with back-to-back transition layups, the second coming off a Kunz steal. Jayson Reynolds answered for Brewer with a baseline runner at the 3:42 mark.

David McQuilkin’s six-footer from the paint, a 10-foot runner and a foul shot by Lawrence and Kunz’ 3-pointer sent the Broncos well on their way.

The half-court trap was a key in getting the Broncos back on track. Hampden made nine of 12 from the floor in the quarter en route to a 41-35 lead after three.

“We just put it in yesterday,” Harris said of the trap.”It worked out pretty good. We gave them a hard time with it. (Coach) just told us to bust our butts, come back and play our best two quarters of the year so far and we came out of here with a win.”

“We were playing flat,” DiFrederico said. “We had to come out and change something.”

HA led by as many as eight points in the fourth, but Mark Savage’s Witches rallied. Chris Harper scored six points to spark a 10-2 run that put Brewer ahead 49-48 on Harper’s rebound basket with 46 seconds left.

But, the Broncos countered with three foul shots and the Witches came up empty on their final two possessions.

Kunz paced Hampden with 13 points, while Harris had 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Roderick handled the point ably, contributing eight points, five rebounds and four assists.

Lawrence finished with nine points and Kelly seven. McQuilkin, Ernie Stillman and Mark Stillman also provided strong minutes off the bench.

Colman spearheaded the Brewer effort with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Harper had seven points and eight rebounds. Reynolds had seven points and five boards, while point guard Chris Horr chipped in with seven assists and two steals.

Broncos 51, Witches 49

Hampden Academy Brewer

Name AG G AF F TP Name AG G AF F TP

Kelly 7 3 4 1 7 Horr 7 1 0 0 2

Lawrence 9 3 6 3 9 Reynolds 8 3 3 1 7

Kunz 10 6 0 0 13 Oxley 2 2 0 0 4

Roderick 7 4 0 0 8 Colman 13 5 9 6 17

Harris 7 4 2 2 10 Harper 10 3 3 1 7

McQuilkin 4 1 2 1 3 Dore 6 3 0 0 6

Jackson 0 0 0 0 0 Billings 0 0 0 0 0

M. Stillman 1 0 0 0 0 Bladen 6 3 0 0 6

E. Stillman 5 0 2 1 1

Totals 50 21 16 8 51 Totals 52 20 15 8 49

Hampden Academy 18 20 41 51

Brewer 12 24 35 49

Preliminary: Brewer JVs 75, Hampden JVs 70 (OT)

3-pt. goals: Hampden (1-7): Kelly 0-1, McQuilkin 0-1, Lawrence 0-4, Kunz 1-1; Brewer (1-11): Dore 0-2, Horr 0-4, Colman 1-5