Wolverine Basketball's Record Climbs and Falls: With two tournaments and a flurry of games over the last few weeks, the Wolverine basketball team has seen their share of ups and downs.

On Wednesday, January 20th, the Wolverines avenged an early season loss to New Hampton, by handing the Huskies a 75-66 set back at the Wolverdome. Coming off an emotional win over South Kent in double overtime, the BA offense was not clicking early as it took over three minutes for either team to record their first field goal of the game. New Hampton held the early edge with a 12-8 lead, but Bridgton was able to fight their way back and extend their lead to 32-24 with 3:43 remaining in the first half. The eight point spread was the largest by any team in the first half, as BA took a 37-31 lead into the intermission.

New Hampton wasted no time erasing Bridgton's lead to start the second half, and with 14:30 remaining it was 42-42. Four straight points, including two free throws, by TeAndre Hubbard (San Francisco, CA) allowed Bridgton to take the lead for good with 13:32 to play. During the game, BA received offensive contributions from 11 different players, including five with seven or more points and two in double figures.

The next weekend, the team traveled to Connecticut to participate in the St. Thomas More Invitational Tournament. Bridgton's first round match up was with Champlain. The Wolverines came out on fire leading 22-5 midway through the first half, but sloppy play and unforced turnovers cost BA, as they saw their lead shrink to 36-30 at the half. The second half saw Champlain continue to come back, and then pull away from the struggling Wolverines for a final score of 69-58. Three players registered double digits for the black and gray, Chance Jones (Knoxville, TN) with 14, Alex Harris (Richmond, CA) 14 and Paul Dick (Belfast, Ireland) 11.

In the second game Bridgton squared off against MCI, whom they had lost to earlier in the year at home. The Wolverines woes continued from the first game, as they could not buy a basket and found themselves trailing 15-2 early on. Solid Although later in the game Bridgton was able to come within seven, the team could not convert after that and turnovers allowed MCI to put the Wolverines away, 70-57.

The following Wednesday, BA headed to Brewster Academy to take on the NEPSAC leading Bobcats. The Bobcats showed Bridgton why they are the cream of the crop this year, handing them a 74-54 set back. Three Bridgton players reached double digits during the game: Chance Jones had fifteen points, Dashaun Wiggins (Bronx, NY) eleven, and Alex Harris twelve.

Excitement built on campus as this past weekend Bridgton hosted its first Winter Tournament with three other powerhouse teams. BA first challenged St. Thomas More on Saturday night, but after jumping to a quick 2-0 lead, the Wolverines were stuck with the lower score until five minutes remaining in the first half when Alex Harris hit a three pointer to put Bridgton up 28-27. At the half the two squads were knotted at 33. Coach Lesure said later, "Settling for a tie at the half was not enough, we could have put ourselves in a position for more of an advantage." In the second half St. Thomas More came out firing as they quickly went up by 10 in the first five minutes. Although Bridgton was able to close the lead to single digits using an 11-2 run, the Chancellors would not let up and pulled away with a final score of 95-87.

In the consolation game on Sunday, BA matched up against instate rival MCI, the third meeting for the teams this year. The start of the game looked like it would be a repeat of the previous meetings, MCI walking away with the win. The Huskies scored on their first two possessions and quickly went up 5-0, however Bridgton outscored MCI 31-9 over the remainder of the half to enjoy a 31-14 lead at the break. Bridgton was able to hold onto the double digit lead for the entire second half, ending their four game skid with a 64-51 win.

This Tuesday, the Lee Academy Pandas traveled from the depths of the Maine wilderness to take on BA. The first half was a closely contested battle that saw Lee lead throughout, but only hold a slight 32-31 advantage at the break. In the second half the Pandas came out strong, their lead reaching double digits with 13:26 to play. Paul Dick (Belfast, Ireland) hit a three with 7:42 to play to bring the deficit back to single numbers, 54-45, and then Bridgton used a 13-5 run over a 3:09 stretch to bring themselves within one point at 65-64, with just 2:06 to play.

Following a time out Bridgton needed a defensive stop. Ruben Kanya (Hamilton, Ontario) drew what appeared to be an offensive player control foul that would negate the converted layup and give Bridgton the ball back, however it was called a blocking foul and a Lee player converted the three point play to put Lee up 68-64 with 25.7 seconds to play. It was too little too late for Bridgton as Chance Jones (Knoxville, TN) hit a three at the buzzer for a final of 69-67.

"They just out played us, including the start of each half," Head Coach Whit Lesure said following the game. He went on to say, "We couldn't get a stop at the end, and had a hard time getting one all night." Bridgton will next travel to University of Rhode Island this weekend to compete in the National Prep School Invitational Tournament.

Hockey Team Defeats Boston Junior Rangers: The past few weeks have seen the Wolverine hockey team both on the road and at home, traveling as far away as Lake Placid, New York.

On January 20th, Bridgton hosted the local Hebron Academy team in their annual Fabello Cup rivalry. For the past two years, Bridgton has managed to keep the cup on campus. This year however the cup will return to the Lumberjacks of Hebron, as they went to work capitalizing on numerous Wolverine turnovers, soundly defeating BA 6-1. "We still have a lot of trouble with turnovers in our zone," said Coach Jon Lounsbury '01. "Hebron did an outstanding job capitalizing on them."

A few days later the team headed to Lake Placid, New York for the Northwood Tournament. Before the tournament, Coach Lounsbury had set up a special opportunity for the Bridgton players to practice in the Olympic Facility at the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena.

 

Maybe it was the long bus ride, but the Wolverines struggled in their first two games of the tournament. The 6-1 loss against Northwood looked lopsided, but if not for a few bad endzone turnovers, BA was in this game. Goalie Ian Edwards (Linden, MI) turned aside 36 shots in the loss. Aaron Semiao (North Reading, MA) scored the lone BA goal, with Patrick Sen (Niles, IL)and Jesse Shavel (Cumberland, ME) picking up the assists. Things did not improve much in game two against Nichols, leaving BA with another 6-1 loss. Despite pouring 34 shots on the Nichols goalie, the Wolverines could only manage one goal. Patrick Sen scored the gorgeous shot. In the second half of the game, Nichols capitalized on three power play opportunities to put the game out of reach and eliminate BA from tournament contention."I thought at times we played really well," said Assistant Coach Meserve. "We worked hard, battled down low with and without the puck, and really brought a physical presence to the game."  Through the first two games, BA was outscored 12-2, but those number don't account for the strong play of Captain Kyle O'Connell (Bridgewater,MA). Many spectators commented on how dominate O'Connell was in both games, leaving opponents aware of him on the ice and even managing a handful of highlight reel hits each game.

Bridgton decided to bring everything, including the kitchen sink, out for their final game in Lake Placid. Bridgton took on the Rothesay Netherwood School and did an excellent job at both ends of the ice. After the first period, the score was knotted 0-0, but BA held a 18-12 shot advantage. The first goal came when Darren Casey-Covell (Orono, ME) took a feed from Casey Helms (Sandwich, MA), burying his shot. BA continued to press and Patrick Sen tipped in a Trey Rasmussen (West Tisbury, MA) shot to give BA a 2-0 edge. Controlling the game and finishing the game are two different things, as was evident when Rothesay tacked up the tying score on a power play. With 34 seconds remaining, BA ran the "Martha's Vineyard Hustle." Mike Iacobucci (Franklin, MA) won the face off, giving the puck back to Rasmussen, who immediately shot the puck in front of his net and which then deflected off the boards into the neutral zone. Fellow Vineyard alum Tad Gold (Oaks Bluff, MA )took off as soon as Iacobucci won the draw and walked in on a breakaway. Storybook ending? Not quite. The Rothesay goalie got a piece of the shot and it sailed 10 feet to the left of the goal. Thankfully Patrick Martin (Hanover, MA) was also driving up the ice, and snuck the rebound in behind the Rothesay goalie, handing Bridgton an exciting 3-2 victory.

This past week, BA defeated the Boston Junior Rangers 6-3 at Bridgton Ice Arena. Patrick Sen picked up a struggling BA offense by scoring three goals for his first Bridgton Academy hat trick. The Bridgton offense clicked well and often as they put 35 shots on the Rangers' goalie. Attack was the theme of the game and Bridgton did a great job controlling the puck down low and setting up high in the slot. The second and third periods didn't have the same flow as the first, but BA managed to bury two more pucks, ending in a 5-3 victory for the Wolverines. Robby Campbell (Braintree, MA) turned aside 23 shots to pick up his fourth win of the season.

The team plays the Bay State Breakers tonight at the Rockland Ice Arena (Rockland, MA) at 7:00 p.m. If you are in the Rockland area, come check out your Wolverines!