Hampden Academy, with its returning trio of Christian McCue, Fred Knight and Logan Poirier, was selected as the top Class A basketball team in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference coaches poll Friday.
Mt. Blue also returns several veteran players and was picked second. Bangor, Lawrence, Brunswick, Lewiston, Edward Little and Cony round out the top eight teams. There are 14 teams in the conference.
Mt. Blue and Hampden, which split their two-game series last year, play twice again this season.
“We beat them at home at the buzzer,” Mt. Blue coach Jim Bessey said. “They beat us by about a dozen at their place. We have a lot of returning players from last year. I think it’s logical you’d rank us in the upper echelon.”
Among the returning players for the Cougars are seniors Cam Sennick, Eric Berry and Blake Hart. Berry is the team’s point guard, while Sennick, at 6-foot-5, is one of the top big men in the conference. The Cougars will play without 6-4, 215-pound senior Dustin Zamboni, who tore knee ligaments during the football season.
“That’s going to be a big loss,” Bessey said. “But it will give other kids an opportunity to play.”
Many of the Lawrence players played in Saturday’s state football final and have only a day or two to recover, including two strong returning players in Spencer Carey and Shaun Carroll.
“Some of the kids that played a lot will take some time off,” Lawrence coach Mike McGee said. “I don’t know what I’m getting on Monday, but I still think we’ll be pretty good by the end of the year.”
Bangor graduated many players from last year’s state championship team but returns a good nucleus led by center Patrick Stewart. Cony, led by 6-6 senior Walker Cooper, was picked eighth.
“I think that’s being rather kind,” Cony coach Tim Bonsant said. “It’s the strongest league in my four years at Cony.”
The Rams graduated five players and lost a potential point guard through transfer.
“Going into this league without a true veteran point guard is pretty tough,” Bonsant said.
The Cony coach also mentioned a number of teams that weren’t selected in the poll but could be strong, including Skowhegan, Oxford Hills and Erskine.
“The league is absolutely stacked,” he said. “There’s no easy nights.”
Gary Hawkins — 621-5638
ghawkins@centralmaine.com
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