By Sam Canfield, BDN Staff
Starting two freshmen and one sophomore, the No. 5 Hodgdon Hawks channeled their raw talent, bravery and desire on Tuesday night, upsetting tourney favorite No. 4 Machias 64-57 in their Class C North regional quarterfinal matchup at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
The upstart Hawks never relinquished their surprising 30-28 halftime lead, staving off a fierce fourth quarter comeback bid from the veteran Bulldogs to punch their ticket to a regional semifinal appearance versus the winner of No. 1 Calais and No. 8 Piscataquis on Thursday, Feb. 22, at 3:30 p.m.
Hodgdon had not qualified for the Class C boys tournament the last two years, while Machias had finished as the Class D North regional runner-up the last two seasons — reclassifying to Class C this year, and beating No. 1 Calais twice in the regular season.
“Most of the time I have three freshmen on the floor, [though] I didn’t see a ton of nerves and it just came down to heart and desire,” Hodgdon head coach Sam Henderson said. “[Machias] is a very veteran team, but we played great team defense, moved the ball really, really well and hit some key shots.”
Leading the Bulldogs’ attack was lanky sophomore point guard Mickey Fitzsimmons (21 points, six assists) and hard-working senior forward Bobby Richardson (16 points, six offensive rebounds), progressively cutting a 47-38 fourth quarter deficit down to 55-53 with 2:45 remaining.
Unfazed, the Hawks held strong and responded to every Machias blow with a quick bucket of their own, led by six fourth quarter points from sophomore guard Daniel Henderson (13 points overall) and four more from junior guard David Tuttle (17 points, three assists overall), who battled through knee pain down the final stretch.
Hodgdon’s star freshman forward Cyran Ciarleglio also flexed his versatility on Tuesday night, dishing out five assists, pouring in 15 points, snagging three offensive rebounds and notching three steals. Freshmen Wyatt Oliver and Logan Sherman combined to tack on nine points and two assists for the Hawks, and junior forward Brody Little added eight points and two assists.
For the Bulldogs, junior forward Hayden Blake nailed four 3-pointers, and sophomore center Kaiyden Carter tallied six points, four offensive boards and three blocks.
