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AUGUSTA — There’s not a team in the Eastern Class A boys basketball tournament that has played more games at the Augusta Civic Center than Hampden Academy in recent years. The Broncos won the last three regional titles on this court, and on Wednesday night they showed why many consider them the favorite to win a fourth.

Led by junior point guard Nick Gilpin and junior forward Brendan McIntyre, the Broncos passed and defended their way past Messalonskee, taking a 58-47 win to advance to the regional final. No. 2 Hampden (18-2) will play either No. 1 Edward Little or No. 4 Lewiston on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. No. 3 Messalonskee ends the season 14-6.

“The name of the game is Gilpin was a little too much. We couldn’t keep him in front of us. He just made big plays,” Messalonskee coach Peter McLaughlin said.

Gilpin scored a team-high 17 points to go with eight assists and 10 rebounds. Gilpin scored 13 of his points in the second half, as the Broncos pulled away.

“Nick, he runs our show. He’s our point guard. We trust him to make the best decisions for our team,” said McIntyre, who had 14 points and six rebounds.

Added Hampden coach Russ Bartlett: “Our offense comes from Nick, whether he’s scoring or delivering the ball. He has a great feel for the game. The kids know where to be to get themselves open.”

Ahead 25-18 at the half, Hampden pushed its lead to 10 points, 40-30, on a Nick Chasse 3-pointer late in the third quarter. Messalonskee could never get closer than eight points the rest of the game. The Broncos stayed patient with the ball, making quick passes around the perimeter until an open shooter was found for an easy basket, over and over.

“I thought our composure late with the ball was fantastic,” Bartlett said.

Defensively, the Broncos plan was similar to what they did when they played at Messalonskee last month. Conary Moore drew the primary defensive role on Messalonskee’s Nick Mayo, a 6-foot-8 Mr. Basketball semifinalist. When Mayo got the ball, Moore immediately drew help from a teammate.

“Conary’s a great defender. He was all over (Mayo), making him work for his catches,” McIntyre, who often helped defend Mayo, said. “Every time they had a dump down pass, we doubled him quickly. Make it chaos when he catches it. Make him work for his shots.”

While Mayo finished with a game-high 21 points and 13 rebounds, the Broncos held him to four points in the first half while also limiting the chances of Messalonskee’s other top offensive players, Nate Violette (10 points) and Taylor Turner (eight points).

“The first half, I thought we guarded really well. Violette hurt us a little bit in the first half, but I was real happy with our defense on Nick (Mayo),” Bartlett said.

“It’s very easy for a player like Turner or Violette to take over a game, so we put an emphasis on them to make sure they didn’t get hot,” McIntyre said.

It didn’t help Messalonskee that when the Eagles did get open shots, the shots didn’t fall.

“The first half, I thought we got the looks we wanted. I think we needed to hit some big shots,they were kind of in and out, back rim, and sometimes those things happen,” McLaughlin said. “They were great looks. I felt good about the looks we were getting.”

Messalonskee’s only lead came early, when Turner hit a shot to put the Eagles ahead 4-2. A Jake Black 3-pointer with 5:21 left in the first gave the Broncos a 7-4 lead, and they remained ahead the rest of the game.

“I’m proud of my guys. We went out and we competed for 32 minutes,” McLaughlin said.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

[email protected]

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM