Brewster 100, Bridgton 97 (OT) (February 20, 2008)
Brewster traveled to Bridgton Academy and came away with a hard-fought 100-97 victory in OT. Those who were in attendance will remember the game for quite some time, as both teams fought and clawed for the entire contest. The game's final moments had more turning points than the final scene of Hamlet and most definitely was an illustration of why NEPSAC Class A is the best league nationally. Bridgton jumped out to an early double-digit lead prompting the raucous student body to begin their "OVER-RATED" chant, which woke up the Brewster Bobcats. At the half, Brewster trailed 41-37. During the second half, Brewster was not able to get any closer than four points. Bridgton would respond to each rally with their own key basket or stop defensively. Bridgton's largest lead of the second half was eight points with approximately six minutes remaining in regulation. A Brewster three-pointer made it 77-75 with approximately two minutes showing on the clock. The teams traded baskets back and forth as neither team refused to back down. With 18 seconds remaining and trailing by three, recent Fordham verbal Trey Blue (South Holland, IL) was fouled taking a three-pointer and calmly sank all three to tie the game at 83. Bridgton scored on an offensive rebound with eight seconds to go to lead by two. With no timeouts, Brewster raced down court and Trey Blue scored on a driving coast to coast lay up with 1.1 showing on the clock to force overtime with both teams knotted at 85. Overtime saw both teams take turns with the lead. With Brewter up one with under 15 seconds on the clock, Emmanuel Negedu (Kaduna, Nigeria) stole a pass and went in for the dunk to put Brewster up by three, 100-97. Bridgton's three-pointer at the buzzer was off and Brewster escaped with a three point OT win to improve to 27-3 on the season. Mark Lyons (Schenectady, NY) had a team-high 32 points, while Trey Blue contributed 23 points (including 5 three-pointers). Captain Emmanuel Negedu finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds and junior Devan Bailey (Cheshire, England) had a huge three-pointer in the second half and knocked down key free-throws as well.
