HAMPDEN – The Bangor boys basketball team began play Tuesday night much in the manner in which it defeated Hampden Academy by 40 points on Dec. 12.

But a near-perfect start required a breathtaking finish for the Rams to finish off the Broncos in the rematch, as senior forward Alex Gallant made four free throws in the game’s final seven seconds to give Bangor a 57-54 victory.

Hampden rallied from an 18-point third-quarter deficit behind some outrageous 3-point shooting by Daniel McCue and Brad Haase and eventually took a 54-53 lead when guard Antonio Juco – while trying to commit a foul – instead stole the ball at midcourt and went in for a layup with 47 seconds left.

Bangor subsequently maintained possession until Gallant was fouled with seven seconds left and made two free throws to give the Rams a 55-54 lead.

McCue then dribbled into traffic and was called for a player-control foul with 1.9 seconds left. Gallant was quickly fouled and made two more free throws with 0.7 seconds left to give Bangor a three-point lead.

Hampden inbounded the ball to Haase at midcourt, but his quick shot bounced off the rim as time expired.

Gallant finished with a career-high 30 points on 10 of 12 shooting from both the field and free-throw line, while junior center Ryan Weston scored 14 points for the top-ranked Rams, now 15-1.

“Alex has come a long way this year,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed, “and I told Ryan we needed a big game from him tonight, too, and he came to play.”

Haase scored 24 points for Hampden, all in the final three periods, while McCue added 17 for the 8-7 Broncos, who made 10 of their 17 3-point attempts.

“We knew this wasn’t going to be like the first time we played them,” said Gallant. “We knew they were a better team, they’ve been playing well lately and they definitely did tonight. We knew even when our offense was running really well early that it wasn’t over.”

Bangor’s offense did run well enough early in the game to take most teams out. With the Rams making the extra pass to create layup opportunities for Gallant and Weston, Bangor made 12 of its first 13 shots – and Lee Suvlu scored after rebounding the lone miss.

“We’ve been talking about getting a lot of entries into the post and we did that very well, I thought, in the first half,” said Reed.

Hampden hung around thanks to its perimeter shooting, making 5 of 7 from beyond the arc in the first two quarters, but Gallant had 20 points and five rebounds at the break as Bangor held a 35-21 lead.

“At halftime Alex had 20 and we had 21, and that’s obviously a huge concern for us,” said Hampden coach Russ Bartlett.

The Broncos adjusted defensively after intermission, dropping an extra defender into the lane. That forced Bangor’s offense to the perimeter, where the Rams were tentative about taking shots and less successful in making them.

Bangor, which shot 68 percent (15 of 22) in the first half, made 8 of 19 attempts after intermission.

“In the second half we gambled a bit and stuffed an extra guy in the paint,” said Bartlett. “We still played man with everybody else, but we basically dared them to shoot from the outside. If they made them it wouldn’t work, but if they missed some and we could rebound, we could get some stops.”

Trailing 41-23 after a Gallant layup with 4:29 left the third quarter, Hampden battled back. Haase scored eight straight Broncos’ points, and McCue added a 3-pointer and fed Evan Farley for a jumper to help Hampden draw within 49-39 by the end of the period.

Another McCue 3-pointer followed by a drive by Haase after a Justin Brown steal capped a 10-0 Hampden run that cut the margin to 51-49 with 3:12 left.

Gallant made two free throws to end a 4:33 scoreless drought by Bangor, but McCue made his fifth 3-pointer of the night to draw the Broncos within 53-52 with 2:11 left.

RAMS 57, BRONCOS 54

Bangor (15-1) Hampden Acad. (8-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Jellison 1 2 0 0 2 Stephens 0 0

McAllian 0 1 0 0 0 Burke 0 0 0

Zolper 1 5 0 0 2 Evans 0 1 0

Edwards 2 4 0 0 4 Haase 6 10 24

Suvlu 2 7 1 2 5 A. Hersey 0 0

Gallant 10 12 10 12 30 Juco 2 5 5

Chase 0 0 0 0 0 Burditt 0 1 0

Weston 7 10 0 0 14 Brown 0 2 0

Farley 3 4 1 8

McCue 5 10 2 17

Totals 23 41 11 14 57 Totals 16 33 12 16 54

Bangor 19 35 49 57

Hampden Acad. 11 21 39 54

3-pt. goals – Bangor (0-4): Jellison 0-1, Zolper 0-1, McAllian 0-1, Suvlu 0-1; Hampden Acad. (10-17): McCue 5-7, Haase 4-6, Farley 1-1, Juco 0-2

JV: Bangor 60-42

Attendance: 900 (est.)