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HAMPDEN – After his team committed 14 fouls in the first half and sent visiting Nokomis to the line 11 times, Hampden Academy coach Andy Frace must have been thinking “Here we go again.”
It was early foul trouble that put the Broncos in a hole they would not dig themselves out of in a loss to Old Town Tuesday.
There would be no repeat performance this time however, as Frace’s Broncos turned the tables on Nokomis of Newport in the second half to notch a come-from-behind, 69-65 victory Friday night in boys basketball action.
“We’ve been working on foul shots because that was the last game’s problem,” said Frace. “Down the stretch, you’ve got to make them.”
And they did. The Broncos shot a searing 79 percent (15-of-19) from the free throw line in the final quarter and outlasted a stubborn Nokomis squad to post their first win of the season. Both teams are now 1-1.
Hampden guard Jeremy Hopkins, who led the Broncs with 20 points, credited a defensive switch for the victory.
“This is our first game playing man-to-man. Coach told us in the first two minutes of the game, if we could play man and stay with them, we could play it the rest of the game. And we came out and did it,” Hopkins said.
“I thought the difference was we didn’t play very good defense in the second half and they outplayed us,” said Nokomis coach Jim DiFrederico. “They were more patient in the second half.”
It was just the opposite in the first half as Nokomis got into the bonus with 33 seconds left in the first quarter and the double bonus with 6:52 left in the half.
The result was a 13-0 Warriors run which erased a six-point Broncos lead and gave Nokomis a 27-20 lead 4 1/2 minutes before halftime.
The Broncos stampeded out of the locker room, scoring the first six points of the second half, and then played a more deliberate offense the rest of the way.
“We slowed it down. We weren’t trying to force anything,” said Hampden’s Aaron Beaulieu. “We wanted to keep our composure and spread it out on offense. We wanted nothing but layups.”
They didn’t get all layups, but they did get fouled a lot – thanks in large part to Beaulieu’s commanding play in the paint.
The 6-foot-3 Broncos forward scored 12 of his 14 points and grabbed eight of his 10 rebounds – five in the fourth quarter – in the second half.
It was his rebound of Tim Shaw’s missed second foul shot and basket with 1:11 to play that was pointed to as the turning point in the game for Hampden.
“That offensive rebound put-back on that foul shot was huge,” said Frace.
“I think that was an inspiration to them at that point, and they hit some key shots and made their free throws,” DiFrederico said. “I think the bottom line is it came down to free throws.”
Ah yes, free throws. After Beaulieu’s rebound made it 62-57 HA, the Warriors had to start fouling.
Guard Derek Rodgerson (17 points) made one of two foul shots to put Hampden up 65-59 with 36 seconds left before Nokomis’ Jerrid Otis was fouled on a 3-point attempt and drained all three shots.
Rodgerson hit two more free throws with 21 seconds to play. Nokomis’ Brandon Ellisen (21 points) was also fouled on a 3-pointer 12 seconds later, but missed all three.
HA’s Jesse McCue drilled two at the line to make it 69-62 and all but ice it with six seconds left.
Nokomis’ Greg Morse hit a 3 with two seconds left to cap the scoring.
Broncos 69, Warriors 65
Nokomis (1-1) Hampden Academy (1-1)
Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP
Otis 1 5 4 4 6 Hopkins 7 12 3 4 20
Boulanger 2 2 0 0 4 Rodgerson 5 14 7 8 17
White 3 12 1 2 7 McCue 2 2 2 2 6
Morse 1 2 0 0 3 Beaulieu 4 8 6 7 14
Ellisen 9 19 3 9 21 Burke 1 3 1 2 3
Adams 0 0 0 0 0 Shaw 1 4 3 6 5
Otis 1 8 4 5 7 Waite 0 0 0 0 0
Rapp 2 5 4 5 8 Thomas 2 3 0 0 4
Rouse 2 2 5 5 9 Dickinson 0 1 0 0 0
Totals 21 55 21 30 65 Totals 22 47 22 29 69
Nokomis 18 34 42 65
Hampden 20 29 42 69
3-pt. goals: Nokomis (2-18): Morse 1-2, J. Otis 1-4, R. Otis 0-1, Rapp 0-1, White 0-5, Ellisen 0-5; Hampden (3-9): Hopkins 3-4, Burke 0-1, Beaulieu 0-2, Rodgerson 0-2
Attendance: 200 (est.)
Preliminary: Hampden JVs 63, Nokomis 56
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