BREWER – The way Adam King took charge of Brewer’s game over Old Town Thursday at Brewer, you would have never known the shooting guard had not played a game in three weeks.

The way King talked after the Witches 66-61 handling of the Indians, you would have thought King’s 24 points was commonplace.

In fact, the right-handed King has practiced using his left hand the last three weeks while his shooting hand and broken thumb were taped. Thursday was King’s first game since the Witches were 3-1 in December.

Yet despite the fact the senior averaged 15 points a game before Thursday, he was not the least surprised with his performance.

“I was really excited and getting frustrated in warmups. I was throwing airballs,” King said. “I don’t have a lot of feeling in my right hand. But I was mentally focused. I just missed playing and appreciated it more being out there. It’s not just the fact it was Old Town that made this game important. It was the fact we dropped four of the last five games.”

With an aggressive mindset and newfound reverence for the game, King stormed into the game hitting two 3-pointers in the first five minutes and racking up 18 points in the first half to keep Brewer ahead.

What kept Old Town close was the Indians’ 6-foot-7 center, Chad Hayes, who scored 13 of his 18 points in the first half. Old Town outrebounded Brewer 30-24 in the game, with Hayes grabbing 12 of the Indians’ boards.

However, when Old Town’s senior center was called for his fourth foul with 3:41 left in the third, the Indians lost their one dominant post player and Brewer’s three-point halftime lead grew to an 11-point advantage in the third.

“That killed us,” Old Town coach Marty Clark said. “Without Chad, we’re a small team. Then when he went in, he’s a physical player, he was afraid of getting that fifth foul.”

Without Hayes, the Indians didn’t have a player over 6 feet, while Brewer boasted a variety of big men, with King leading the way at 6-4. Hayes came back in the game with 7:40 left in the fourth, but played tentatively to avoid that fifth foul. By then the Indians were down 54-43.

Taking away Old Town’s inside game helped Brewer, since the Witches were without defensive catalyst Robb Pawson, who pulled a leg muscle in Brewer’s game against Mt. Blue Monday.

“Thank God we’re big,” Brewer coach Mark Savage said. “Them losing Hayes was a big difference. We had Robb Pawson on the bench and that hurt. He’s as important to us defensively as King is offensively.”

Buddy Chambers scored 11 points for Brewer and pulled down seven rebounds, while Tim Hughes added 10 points and six boards.

Still, Hayes said Old Town put up a rare fight.

“Against strong teams we do better,” Hayes said. “We’re tough on the boards and we hustle. We dive for balls. We just need to play that way consistently.”

Jeremy Belyea added 19 points for Old Town.

Witches 66, Indians 61

Old Town Brewer

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

Belyea 6 12 5 6 19 King 9 17 2 3 24

Hayes 4 10 10 13 18 Hughes 3 9 3 4 10

Miller 2 7 2 2 6 Chambers 5 9 1 3 11

Thibodeau 2 7 1 3 6 Hinckley 2 7 2 3 6

Vermette 1 2 0 0 2 Sieber 0 0 2 2 2

Dumont 2 9 0 0 5 Leeman 1 2 2 4 4

Baker 1 3 0 0 2 Carson 1 3 0 0 2

Degrasse 1 5 1 2 3 Griffin 2 7 0 0 5

Young 1 1 0 0 2

Totals 19 55 19 27 61 Totals 24 55 12 19 66

Old Town 13 30 42 61

Brewer 15 33 53 66

3-pt. goals: Old Town (4-11): Belyea 2-3, Thibodeau 1-4, Dumont 1-1; Brewer (6-11): King 4-7, Griffin 1-1, Hughes 1-2, Carson 0-1

Preliminary: Brewer JVs 62, Old Town 38