Broncos gain overtime win over Witches

loading...

BREWER – When Hampden Academy boys coach Andy Frace got back to the visitor’s locker room after Monday night’s 60-57 overtime squeaker over winless Brewer, he had just one thing to say to his kids.

“They know they didn’t play well and they know they got out of here with a win they really didn’t deserve, and that’s exactly what I’m going to tell them,” Frace said. “They didn’t play well.”

Frace’s Broncos, now 2-0, shot poorly from the field and the line, committed 19 turnovers, and failed to execute the proper offense against Brewer’s bothersome 1-3-1 zone and zone press, but they snuck out of the gym with a win nonetheless.

“It was horrible shooting, horrible shooting,” Frace said. “I don’t know what we shot from the floor, but it couldn’t have been good.”

It wasn’t great. The Broncos shot 38 percent from the field and 53 percent from the line, but it was their 6-for-8 foul shooting in the game’s final three minutes that allowed them to steal a win.

Conversely, the 0-3 Witches shot 61 percent from the line, missing only seven of 18 shots, but five of those misses came in the final two minutes of overtime.

Guard Derek Rodgerson managed to finish a disappointing game, shooting-wise, on a positive note as he took a pass from Jeremy Hopkins with 15 seconds left and his team down 58-57 and canned an 18-foot jumper from the right wing to put the Broncos up for good.

It was literally Rodgerson’s shot at redemption as he missed the potential game-winner – an open 15-footer coming off a screen – with two seconds left in regulation.

“At regulation I got a good look and probably should have knocked it down,” Rodgerson said. “I was thinking I had to make up for that, plus the other mistakes I made, when I took that last one.”

After a Brewer timeout and Hampden foul, Chris Leighton missed two foul shots – the fourth and fifth of Brewer’s five misses in its last six shots – and Hampden took possession.

After the Broncos called timeout, the Witches fouled Rodgerson and he canned two free throws with two seconds left. Brewer’s inbounds pass went out of bounds and Hampden ran out the last seconds.

Hampden’s 6-foot-1 junior guard led the Broncos with 25 points after improving his shooting percentage from 36 percent in the first half to 57 in the second.

Rodgerson’s heroics bailed the Broncs out against a stubborn Brewer squad that withstood a 10-0 HA run to start the second half. The Witches responded by reeling off 15 unanswered points to turn a 42-27 HA lead with 7 1/2 minutes left into a tie four minutes later.

“These are the kinds of games we have to win. We’d have lost this game two years ago. Heck, we’d have probably lost before the overtime,” said Frace.

“Yeah, a couple years ago, we probably wouldn’t have pulled this off, but we’ve got a lot more experience and leadership now,” Rodgerson said.

Tim Hughes led the Witches with 21 points despite a slight ankle sprain. Forward Frank Rapp was on fire in the second half, scoring all 12 of his points and grabbing nine of his 12 rebounds.

Center Ryan Thomas had a game-high 13 boards and kicked in 14 points for the Broncos.

Broncos 60, Witches 57 (OT)

Hampden (2-0) Brewer (0-3)

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

Estes 0 2 0 0 0 Bicknell 2 2 0 0 4

Rodgerson 8 18 6 7 25 Violette 1 3 0 0 2

Hopkins 4 11 1 3 9 Leighton 1 2 0 2 2

Dow 0 0 0 0 0 Sieber 0 0 0 0 0

McCue 1 8 0 0 2 Killip 1 1 0 0 2

C.Carson 0 2 0 2 0 Snell 1 1 5 6 7

O.Carson 1 3 0 0 2 Johnson 2 6 2 4 7

Russell 0 1 0 0 0 Rapp 6 13 0 1 12

Thomas 6 11 2 5 14 Dearborn 0 2 0 0 0

Dickinson 4 8 0 0 8 Kimball 0 2 0 0 0

Hughes 8 20 4 5 21

Totals 24 64 9 17 60 Totals 22 52 11 18 57

Hampden Academy 12 21 40 50 60

Brewer 10 19 27 50 57

3-pt. goals: Hampden (3-16): Rodgerson 3-10, Hopkins 0-1, McCue 0-5; Brewer (2-5): Johnson 1-2, Hughes 1-3

Attendance: 361

Preliminary: Hampden 59-57