HAMPDEN – Hampden Academy did a good job of slowing down Bangor with its extended 2-3 zone defense Tuesday night.

The problem for the Broncos was, the Rams were even more successful on the defensive end. Bangor shut down Hampden, utilizing man-to-man and a 2-3 zone while posting a 51-33 Big East Conference basketball victory at the Hampden Academy gym.

Hampden stayed close most of the way in the defensive struggle, but Mike Arsenault scored eight points during a 12-0, fourth-quarter burst as the Rams broke loose.

Coach Roger Reed’s top-seeded Rams improved to 10-1 with their fifth straight win. The Broncos stumbled to 2-9.

“Defensively, we’ve been tough all year. We haven’t given up a lot of points,” Reed said. “We’re mixing it up, and the kids played pretty well tonight.”

Despite a 1-for-11 shooting start, the Broncos trimmed a 13-point deficit to five (28-23) on the second of two Justin Crawford 3-pointers with 1:28 left in the third quarter. The momentum didn’t last.

Arsenault, a 6-foot-1 sophomore forward, saw to it that Bangor would prevail. The Rams led 32-25 when Richie Day’s tip-in sparked a 12-0 run. Arsenault sandwiched two foul shots around his own 3-pointer, then hit another bomb to push Bangor’s advantage to 42-25 with 3:27 remaining.

Day made two free throws to close out the critical spurt.

“It was real hard, because we’re used to playing against man-to-man,” Arsenault said. “Coach [Reed] told us in the locker room we had to get it down to Richie Day and get it down to me. We just had to be confident.”

Arsenault gave Bangor some offensive spark after it had settled mostly for perimeter shots against HA’s zone. He scored all of his game-high 14 points in the second half, snapped down 13 rebounds, and added three assists.

“That’s the best defensive effort we’ve put forth this year,” said HA coach Randy Dodge. “We had it within five in the third, then they just kind of exploded. They’ve got a disciplined team.”

Jason St. Pierre contributed nine points and Day muscled his way to seven points and 12 rebounds for the Rams, who outrebounded the Broncos 44-22 and held a 12-1 edge from the foul line.

Bangor contained HA scoring leader Aaron Peppard, holding him to a team-high nine points.

“We need to make sure we know where he is every time down the floor and we took care of him tonight,” said Bangor’s Matt O’Connell, who was tough on Peppard.

Crawford had eight points for HA, which shot 29 percent from the field and went to the line only once.

Rams 51, Broncos 33

Bangor (10-1) Hampden Academy (2-9)

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

Waterman 4 1 0 0 2 Roberts 4 2 0 0 5

St. Pierre 13 3 2 2 9 McInnis 0 0 0 0 0

Achorn 0 0 0 0 0 Martin 1 0 0 0 0

Robichaud 3 1 4 3 5 Bethony 3 1 0 0 2

Civiello 4 2 2 1 5 Shaw 0 0 0 0 0

O’Connell 2 1 0 0 2 Thomas 3 1 0 0 2

Wilcox 1 0 0 0 0 Crawford 8 3 0 0 8

Arsenault 10 4 8 4 14 Marquez 3 1 0 0 2

Wright 1 0 0 0 0 Stepp 0 0 0 0 0

Guerette 4 4 0 0 8 Peppard 16 3 0 0 9

Day 7 2 3 2 7 Connolly 3 2 2 1 5

Morse 0 0 0 0 0 Peet 5 0 0 0 0

Totals 48 18 19 12 51 Totals 45 13 2 1 33

Bangor 8 22 30 51

Hampden 3 15 23 33

3-pt. goals: Bangor (3-15): Waterman 0-1, St. Pierre 1-7, Robichaud 0-1, O’Connell 0-1, Arsenault 2-5; Hampden (6-14): Roberts 1-1, Martin 0-1, Crawford 2-2, Peppard 3-10

Preliminary: Bangor JVs 53, Hampden JVs 29