Hudson leads Hodgdon to Eastern Class D title

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
BANGOR, Maine — Last year, the Hodgdon boys basketball team saw the Eastern Maine championship slip through their fingers in the final seconds of a heart-breaking overtime loss to Central Aroostook.
On Saturday, the Hawks were determined not to have a repeat of the gut-wrenching loss. Mission accomplished.    Playing some of its best team basketball of the season, No. 3 Hodgdon (18-3 overall) defeated No. 5 Southern Aroostook, 49-37, Saturday for the Eastern Class C championship. The Hawks now face Western Maine champ Valley of Bingham at 2:45 p.m. Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center.
The No. 5 Warriors, coached by Bill McAvoy, end their season with a 15-7 record.
Junior Chris Hudson led the Hawks in scoring with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Devon Quint added eight points and senior Tyler Sherman chipped in six.
Junior Cameron Landry paced Southern Aroostook squad with 18 points, while freshman Nolan Altvater chipped in nine and freshman Jackson Mathers contributed seven.
After coming so close to a regional title a year ago, the Hawks made sure Saturday’s game did not come down to a similar outcome.
“Last year, we were 15 seconds away from winning the regional championship,” Hodgdon coach Rob Smith said while holding his three-week old son Logan. “Maybe it wasn’t meant to be that year, but I know it motivated (returning players) to come back focused. They want a gold ball and are playing like it.”
Southern Aroostook scored the game’s first points, a jumper by Landry 30 seconds into the game, but then it was all Hodgdon as the Hawks went on a 7-0 run to seize a lead they would never relinquish.
Facing a familiar foe in SACS was something coach Smith was not looking forward to. The Hawks easily beat Southern Aroostook 72-52 on Jan. 2, but struggled to a 49-46 win at home Jan. 30 to close out the regular season.
“I’ve never liked playing a team three times in a season,” Smith said. “Sometimes, I prefer to play a team that we don’t know, because that means they don’t know us that well either.”
Coming into the game, coach Smith said the Hawks were planning to play more zone defense against the Warriors. But once he saw how well the team’s man-to-man defense was working, he had to stick with it.
“I always tell the guys we are going to stick with whatever is working,” he said.
That man defense worked extremely well causing several Southern Aroostook turnovers in the first half.
The Hawks built a 17-11 lead by the end of the first quarter, thanks to 3-pointers by Hudson, Quint and freshman guard Daden Palmer.
SACS tried to chip away at Hodgdon’s lead in the second period, but every time the team cut into the lead, the Hawks countered with an impressive run of their own. The Hawks took a 28-20 lead into the halftime break.
After the intermission, coach McAvoy’s Warriors came out with renewed intensity as Landry converted a short-range jumper and Mathers drained a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 28-25 in the opening minute of the third quarter. That would be as close as the Warriors would get to the Hawks, however, as Hodgdon went on a 16-5 run to close out the period on top 44-30. Included in that run was a 3-pointer and nifty baseline bucket by Hudson.
Scoring slowed down in the final period as Hodgdon focused its efforts on making an impressive defensive stand.
So how satisfying was the win for the Hawks?
“It feels really good,” Hudson said. “After coming here last year and falling short … it’s a big relief.”
Hudson’s brother Chris, who graduated last year, was at many of the Hawks games this season, but was unable to be at the tournament as he was in basic training at Lackland, Texas for the United States Air Force.
“Maybe he got to listen to a little of the game online,” Chris said. “If he were here, I would give him a big hug and a ‘na-na-na-boo-boo.’”
“It’s really satisfying to get this win,” Sherman added. “Last year stung a lot. It was rough. So our goal all year was to get back to this point and win so we can fight for that gold ball.”
Sherman had a couple of nifty tip-ins on offensive rebounds during the game, something he did not show much of in earlier playoff games in Bangor.
“I don’t know where that came from,” he said. “I’ve always been able to jump, but just never got the chance until today.”
Hodgdon made 19 of 44 shots (43 percent) from the floor and was six of nine (67 percent) from the foul line. Southern Aroostook converted 12 of 33 field goals (36 percent) and made 11 of 17 foul shots (65 percent).
Tidbits
Following the game, Hodgdon team members lingered on the floor of the Cross Insurance Center, soaking in the atmosphere while having some fun on the court. That fun included encouraging assistant coach Seth Dorr to attempt a dunk.
Southern Aroostook made a touching gesture prior to the game. During warm-ups, the team came over to the stands to shake hands with Linwood Hersey, a former state trooper and fan of the Warriors who is battling a serious medical condition.
SACS (37)
Landry 7 3-4 18, Mathers 3 0-1 7, McGary, Lassonde 0 2-4 2, Altvater 2 5-6 9, Cullinan 0 1-2 1, White, Burpee, Bivighouse, Buckley, Nelson. Totals: 12 11-17 37. 3-pointers — Landry, Mathers.
HODGDON (49)
Gardner 0 1-2 1, Vargas 2 0-0 4, Hudson 10 3-3 25, Quint 3 2-2 8, Sherman 3 0-2 6, Palmer 1 0-0 3, Woods. Totals: 19 6-9 49.  3-pointers — Hudson 2, Quint 2, Palmer 1.
Warriors    11    9    10    7    —    37
Hawks    17    11    16    5    —    49