GHCA Eagles take a one-point win, narrowly escape Hawks’ clutches

Hodgdon girls soar in opening game
By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
    The Hodgdon Hawks are taking their games to the last second, literally. Last Thursday, the Hawks hosted the Greater Houlton Christian Academy in a point-worthy matchup.
    The Eagles held on for a 55-54 victory.
    Leading GHCA’s scoring was Micah Wiley with 22 points and Adam Little tossed in 12 more. For Hodgdon, Nick Lunn scored 16 points, while Chris Hudson tossed in 14 and Josh Hudson 13.
    Hodgdon’s strategy heading into the game was to contain GHCA’s perimeter shooting and second-chance opportunities.
Pioneer Times photograph/Gloria Austin
SCRAMBLE — Hodgdon’s Devon Logie calls a timeout after falling to the floor, snatching the ball from the hands of Ethan Holmes of GHCA.
    “We know they had three outside shooters and that any one of them can hit the 3,” said Hodgdon coach Rob Smith. “We went in making sure we knew where their shooters were and knowing that we needed to rebound their missed shots.”
    Unfortunately for Hodgdon, many of GHCA’s shots found their target, as Micah Wiley connected for three 3-pointers and Deyrell Vargas another in the first half.
    The Eagles were hampered with poor free-throw shooting in the fourth, as the Hawks capitalized to cut into their lead, making for a very exciting finish.
    According to GHCA coach Sam Henderson, the Eagles are a solid free-throw shooting team overall with a 70 to 75 percent average.
    “We had tired legs and stress caused our 5-for-14 fourth quarter shooting,” he said.
    The Eagles used help-side defense, rebounding and “on the ball” defense to help them withstand Hodgdon.
    “From this game, we take away a confidence that has been lacking a few years,” said Henderson. “Hodgdon will be among the top eight Class D teams and this can boost our confidence.”
    GHCA held a 42-38 lead to start the final eight minutes after Micah Wiley drove to the hoop. But, Hodgdon’s Tyler Sherman hit from behind the arc to bring his team to within a basket, 43-41. On an ensuing in-bounds play, GHCA alertly threw a “baseball” pass to a breaking Deyrell Vargas, who streaked up the court for a layup. Vargas then found Ethan Holmes in the paint to push the Eagles’ lead to six, 47-41.
    After Russell Socoby hit the back-end of two free throws for the Eagles, pushing the lead to nine points, Hodgdon’s Sherman fired up another 3-pointer to excite the crowd and spark his team. As time ticked away, Josh Hudson scored on an offensive putback and brother, Chris, hit a huge 3-pointer to bring the Hawks to within four points and then with under 13.6 seconds left, Chris drained another trey to make it a one-point game.
    With 7.2 seconds to go in regulation, the Hawks came out of the huddle and got the ball into Nick Lunn’s hands. Lunn was the hero in the Houlton-Hodgdon game with a last-second shot. Lunn took the ball and found an opening off the right side. He bolted toward the hoop for what seemed to be another game-winner, but the ball rolled off the rim as time expired.
    “Our guys hit some big shots down the end and we never stopped playing,” said Smith. “This team has proven that they can battle back. We got down a couple of times against GHCA and battled back. We could just not take the lead.”
    Smith added the rivalry between GHCA and Hodgdon “is always big,” he said. “The last three games have been decided by seven points between us. I am proud of our boys. They never gave up and battled back and had a chance to win the game in the end.”
    The Eagles had led by as many as nine points in the first half of action, as the Hawks had scoring opportunities but the ball wouldn’t fall through the net.
    “In the first, we could not hit any of our shots,” said Smith. “I think we came out too pumped up. It is a rivalry game and the boys were pumped all week for the game.” By the end of the game, Smith said his team had a “few lapses” on defense, but overall the “boys left it all on the court.”
    In the first game of the doubleheader, the Hodgdon girls easily got by GHCA, 83-32.
    Hodgdon’s Lacey McQuarrie led all scorers with 29 points, including five 3-pointers, while Haley Gardiner netted 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Mariah Wiley added 11 points, while Maya Gardiner and Kim Levesque chipped in with eight points apiece.
    For GHCA, Destinee Neureuther led her team with 14 points and Olivia Lord finished with eight.
    The GHCA girls and boys hosted Easton last Wednesday at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. The girls were overtaken, 55-28, while the boys lost 58-42.
    In the girls’ game, Easton went ahead 20-2 in the first quarter en route to the win behind Carla Halvorson’s 22 points and Mindy Desmond’s nine.
    For GHCA, Lord had eight points and Neureuther seven more.
    In the boys’ contest, the Eagles fell behind early, 19-10, to start the game and trailed 28-16 at halftime. The Eagles never recovered, but they played better in the second half, as the Bears outscored them 30-26.
    Holmes finished with 18 points for the Eagles.