BANGOR – Bangor High School’s season-opening 56-40 victory over Hampden Academy at Red Barry Gymnasium on Friday night seemingly validated the notion that the Rams and Broncos should be two of the top teams in Eastern Maine Class A boys basketball again this winter.

Bangor’s first game in defense of its 2007 state championship was a blend of balanced offense and solid defense, as the Rams never trailed after scoring the game’s first nine points.

Five players scored between nine and 11 points, with Lee Suvlu and Jon McAllian leading the way with 11 points and four assists each. Billy Zolper added 10 points and six rebounds, while Ryan Weston had nine points and eight rebounds and Ian Edwards also scored nine points.

“I thought for the first night and playing a good team like Hampden, we were pretty intense,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed, “and I thought the game was played by both teams fairly well.”

Bangor’s limited Hampden – a regional semifinalist last winter – to just three first-half field goals in building a 24-14 lead, then kept control after the break by successfully working the ball inside to Weston and Zolper, who scored all of his points after intermission.

“I thought we could be a better team if we had more inside touches,” said Reed, “and once we started going inside to Ryan and Billy we kind of separated from them a little bit.”

Bangor’s inside strength also was reflected in a 30-19 rebounding advantage overall – 16-5 in the second half. The Rams scored 11 points directly from offensive rebounds.

“I thought our defense, up until the shot went up, was pretty good,” said Hampden coach Russ Bartlett. “They had 38 points going into the fourth quarter, and if you had told me that coming into the game I would have been very happy. We did not defensive rebound the ball well, and that was a concern we had talked about. Our big guys have got to be more physical and rebound.”

Justin Brown led Hampden with 10 points, while Jacob Moore and Brad Haase added nine points each.

Edwards worked inside for two baskets, Weston also scored inside and Suvlu hit a 3-pointer off a McAllian feed as Bangor jumped out to its 9-0 lead. Hampden had turnovers on its first four possessions before finally breaking through when Antonio Juco hit a 3-pointer four minutes into the game.

That six-point deficit, matched on three other occasions, was as close as the Broncos got, the final time at 16-10 on a three-point play by Moore off a nice feed from Nate Burke with 5:15 left in the half.

Weston answered with an inside basket, and McAllian followed with a 3-pointer as Bangor re-established control, leading 21-10 with 3:49 left in the half.

Hampden closed within 36-27 on a 3-point goal by Haase late in the third period, but Zolper answered with two baskets from close range to restore Bangor’s lead to double digits early in the fourth quarter.

Ernie Clark may be reached at eclark@bangordailynews.net or 990-8045.

RAMS 56, BRONCOS 40

Hampden Acad. (0-1) Bangor (1-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Hersey 0 2 0 0 0 R.Lrochlle 0 1

Burke 0 1 0 0 0 C.Lrochlle 0 0

Turner 0 1 0 0 0 McAllian 4 15 2 2 11

White 0 0 0 0 0 Zolper 5 10 10

Evans 0 0 0 0 0 Edwards 4 5 9

Moore 1 5 7 7 9 Suvlu 5 9 11

Haase 2 9 4 4 9 Bernstein 1 3

Dolan 1 1 0 0 2 Clrd-Segn 1 2

Juco 1 1 3 4 6 Hall 0 0 0 0

Burditt 2 6 0 0 4 McDade 0 0 0

Perry 0 0 0 0 0 Martin 0 1 0

Morey 0 1 0 0 0 Weston 4 6 9

Workman 0 0 0 0 0 Frazier 0 0 0

Brown 4 10 0 1 10 Cox 0 1 0

Totals 11 37 14 16 40 Totals 24 53 12 56

Hampden Academy 7 14 27 40

Bangor 13 24 38 56

3-pt. goals – Hampden Acad. (4-14): Brown 2-4, Juco 1-1, Haase 1-6, Burke 0-1, Moore 0-2; Bangor (2-9): Suvlu 1-2, McAllian 1-5, Zolper 0-1, Edwards 0-1

JV: Bangor 61-52

Attendance: 650 (est.)