AUGUSTA — If this is what Zach McLaughlin is like when he’s injured, one can only imagine what he’s like when he’s healthy.
McLaughlin, a senior guard who missed most of the last month with a foot injury, scored a season-high 40 points as top-seeded Hampden Academy survived a tough, determined Skowhegan team 64-58 in the Class A North boys basketball quarterfinals Saturday night at the Augusta Civic Center.
The Broncos (17-2) will face No. 5 Camden Hills in the semifinals at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday back at the Civic Center. Hampden swept the season series, 2-0.
McLaughlin scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, including an 8-for-8 effort from behind the free throw line after Skowhegan started fouling. Hampden coach Ross Bartlett said he wasn’t sure how many minutes McLaughlin would play, but he wound up using him all 32 minutes.
“He hasn’t gone through a full practice yet,” Bartlett said. “I was going to try to give him a break in the fourth quarter, but as you can see, I didn’t do it,” he added with a laugh.
No. 8 Skowhegan (5-13), which defeated Hampden 67-55 on Dec. 12, hardly played like a No. 8 seed. Adam Fitzgerald scored 27 points, including seven 3-pointers that kept the River Hawks in the game. Teammate Ryan Donoghue added 21 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, as Hampden had no answer to the powerful 6-foot-7 forward.
“Those two have been our go-to guys all year,” said Skowhegan coach Tom Nadeau, who described his young team’s season as a building step. “They did what they could to help keep us in it.”
Bartlett noted how the size difference made for a tough situation.
“It wasn’t an ideal matchup for us because we don’t have a true center, and obviously Donoghue is an absolute horse inside,” Bartlett said. “And Adam shot the crap out of the ball. Obviously, those two guys were our focus. We didn’t do a great job defending them tonight, but we made enough plays to win the game.”
The first quarter was back and forth, but McLaughlin’s 10 points staked Hampden to a 15-12 lead.
Hampden opened the second period with pair of JJ Wolfington 3-pointers — one on a gorgeous Aiden Kochendoerfer kickout from the lane — and the Broncos built their lead to 32-21 at halftime. McLaughlin added a 3-pointer of own to give him 18 points at the break.
Skowhegan cut the deficit to 43-37 after three thanks to seven points from Fitzgerald, including a pair of 3-pointers, while Hampden’s Kochendoerfer and his six rebounds sat out most of the quarter with four fouls.
Fitzgerald drained three more 3-pointers in the fourth, but Skowhegan was forced to foul in the last two minutes and McLaughlin’s free throws kept Skowhegan at bay.
Sawyer Worcester and Wolfington scored 10 points each for Hampden.
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