The Hampden Academy Broncos played the Gardiner Tigers once during the 24-25 season and the result was a rather traditional one with the Broncos winning, 51-44. Howwever, their second match up of the season was anything but traditional.., it was a rock fight and Hampden Academy prevailed 40-32.
How much of a rock fight was this? Well, each team scored a grand total of 6 points in the 1st quarter. In the second quarter, Gardiner “exploded” for 10 points while HA mustered another 6 and Gardiner led 16-12 at the break. Then.., as it often seems to do in tournament settings, the game changed in the 3rd and HA made their move but outscoring Gardiner 15-7 to take the lead for good, 27-23 going to the 4th. In that final stanza, once again the Broncos defense held Gardiner to single digits, as they did in 3 of the 4 quarters of this tractor pull and took the win by a score of 40-32.
Aiden Kochendoerfer and Liam Henaghen each led the Broncos with 11, the only players in double figures for them. Meanwhile, Brady Peacock did all he could to help the Tigers stay in this one, literally scoring half of his team’s points with 16. No one else had more than 7 and in a basketball world where the 3 point shot is so significant…, here’s a key stat: Gardiner was just 1 for 16 from international waters. Live by the 3, die by the 3 and Gardiner certainly did just that.
So, the defending regional champs move on to play their friends from Brewer, the Witches on Wednesday at 7 o’clock at the Augusta Civic Center,
