BRUNSWICK — Cape Elizabeth broke a 51-51 tie, scoring nine of the last 12 points to pull away for a 60-54 victory over Brunswick in boys high school basketball action on Friday.
The Capers benefited from 9-for-12 shooting from the charity stripe, while grabbing seven rebounds in the final eight minutes to seal the victory.
Cape’s Andrew Hartel led all scorers with 24 points and 12 rebounds, including three big grabs in the final minutes.
“Hartel is skilled, he’s a four-year starter at quarterback and is a heck of an athlete. He was a real tough match-up for us,” Brunswick coach Todd Hanson said.
Both teams came out of the locker room with a fast-paced opening quarter, scoring points in transition and sinking shots from behind the arc. Back-to-back three-point baskets from Tanner Carpenter opened the scoring for the visitors, and baskets from Hartel and Quinn Morse gave Cape a 10-6 lead midway through the quarter.
“We have some guys that can shoot from the outside as they catch it in rhythm,” Cape Elizabeth coach Casey Morang said.
A Finn Mitchell floater brought the Dragons (4-4) within two at 10-8, but Brunswick was unable to get any closer as each team raced up and down the court, with Cape leading 21-17 after one frame.
Hartel finished the quarter with 10 points, while Mitchell netted nine for the Dragons.
As much as the pace was quick and the shooting was sharp in the opening quarter, the second was a different story. Each team struggled to find the offensive rhythm they had possessed early on.
Brunswick’s offense, which found its groove in its 76-65 win over Camden Hills on Wednesday, was playing without junior guard Noah Goddard, who injured his wrist during that game and is in a cast.
“He had started a couple of games for us and I believe he had his best game at Camden,” Hanson said. “He’s a tough cookie. He broke it before the half, played the rest of the game making some key plays, including going 5-for-5 from the line, and the next day we find out he broke it. It will be a big loss.”
Stepping up his game in the young season, Sam Sharpe started to provide some energy for the Dragons. A steal from Sharpe that resulted in two made free throws from the senior had the Dragons trailing 25-21 with five minutes remaining in the half.
“Sam is a great leader and communicator. He’s been out for six months with knee surgeries,” the Brunswick coach said. “He’s getting confident and his strength back, his best basketball is in front of him.”
Following a pair of made free throws from Hartel, Brunswick’s Noah Cox nailed a shot from behind the arc to pull the Dragons within three. However, the Capers (4-5) closed out the half with a pair of hoops to take a 31-26 lead into the halftime break.
Hartel registered 16 first-half points, while the Capers held the rebounding advantage, 16-8, through two quarters.
Second half
Cox and Mitchell sank baskets to start the half to pull the Dragons within one point to open the third, the closest Brunswick had been to the Capers since the opening minutes of the contest. But back-to-back treys from Mullen and Morse quickly put Cape ahead, 39-32.
“We had to give Hartel a lot of attention and when we did, they made us pay from the outside,” Hanson said.
“We try to move it around a lot,” Hartel said. “The second half they were double-teaming me a little, so I tried to kick it out more.”
Hartel then made his presence known on the defensive end. The 6-foot-9 center had three blocks on three consecutive Brunswick trips down the court, and after a pair of Dragon turnovers, the visitors continued the run, putting together a 14-0 streak to pull ahead 46-32 late in the quarter.
Baskets from Mitchell and Sharpe followed by a 3-pointer at the buzzer from Mitchell put the Dragons back into the game, trailing 47-39 heading to the fourth.
Cox opened the final frame with a shot from behind the arc, followed by a Mitchell trey and a Sharpe layup and just like that, the Dragons trailed by only one just 1:30 into the final quarter.
“For some reason we came out in the second half a little flat, it took us awhile, but once we were able to flip that switch and ratchet it up, we got ourselves right back in the ball game,” Hanson said of his team’s effort to start the fourth quarter.
Mitchell’s third 3-point basket with 4:53 left knotted the game at 49, the first time Cape had not possessed the lead since the opening tip.
Holding Hartel to just six second-half points, Sharpe knew that was translating into confidence for his teammates.
“We had to shut him down,” the senior said. “We went to a zone defense and began shutting him down and building our confidence and giving us energy.”
That energy translated into a chance for the Dragons to take the lead for the first time in the game. With 2:41 on the clock, Sharpe drew a charge on Hartel, but a turnover on the next trip down the court denied that opportunity.
With the score tied, all of the hard work and double- and triple-teaming of Hartel had reached its peak. Hartel’s putback with 1:51 on the clock gave Cape a lead they never relinquished, hitting its next six shots from the free-throw line to seal the victory.
“Up to that point, we had fallen apart a little bit, but we kept calm and stayed composed and pulled it out,” Hartel said.
Coach Morang agreed.
“Poise and composure has been a problem, we struggled a little bit when they made that run, but came through,” the Capers’ coach said.
For Brunswick, Hanson and his team will learn from the experience and start preparing for tonight’s tilt at Lincoln Academy (6:30 p.m.).
“We thought as a coaching staff that the key was we started to play with a sense of urgency and with energy, and we need to do that from the beginning,” Hanson said. “We put ourselves in position, but we had a few breakdowns in the end that hurt us.”
Mitchell matched Hartel’s 24 points, followed by Cox’s 16 and Sharpe’s 10. Sharpe also grabbed six rebounds, while Mitchell had five.
Cape’s Morse and Carpenter each had 14 points in the victory, followed by Mullen’s eight to round out the scoring for the Capers.
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