Campbell's Austin McHugh, left, tries to dish the ball off while Gilford's Mark Uicker takes a swipe at it during Tuesday night's Divsion III prelims in Litchfield. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

LITCHFIELD – They had ’em.

Yes, the Campbell High School Cougars had the Gilford Golden Eagles right at the edge of extinction in Tuesday night’s Division III boys basketball prelims.

The only problem was Gilford junior sharpshooter Brendan Baldi knew it, so he nailed a 3-pointer with three seconds left to send the visitors into the quarterfinals, 53-50.

“I knew I had to hit it, or we’d have to go into overtime,” Baldi said. “We could’ve lost.”

Many in the lively crowd in the Cougars Den probably thought they should have, after Campbell came roaring back from a late third quarter 13-point deficit to grab a 50-48 lead with 1:14 to go and the gassed Golden Eagles clearly a step behind and on their heels. But Baldi (11 points) hit a small bank shot to tie the game at 50 with a minute to play. The goal for Campbell then was to milk the clock, but alas, the No. 8 Cougars (10-8) turned it over.

“We just had that late turnover on a little handoff that killed us,” Campbell coach Justin DiBenedetto said. “We wanted to spread them out, take our time, and we got a little bit of nerves I think, and that got us.”

So did Baldi. The Golden Eagles whittled the clock down by 50 seconds, and called time out with 10 ticks left. On the inbounds, Baldi used a screen and shot. Nothing but net.

“He’s a third year varsity player, big shot for a big young man, so I’m proud of him and proud of how we hung in there and executed,” Gilford coach Rick Acquilano said, his No. 9, 11-8 team now headed to fact top-ranked, 17-1 Conant on Friday in the quarterfinals. “Yeah, we were (tired) but we hung in there, scratching and clawing.”

Then again, so did the undersized Cougars, who were up 14-13 after one, down 25-24 at the half, and then had to watch the Eagles get sizzling from the outside and in transition. Baldi, Mark Uicker (team high 16), and Cam Bushnell led a 14-2 run that had Campbell reeling.

The Cougars were down, but not out, trailing 41-31 after three. Then sophomore Hunter Henderson, who hadn’t played much all year, led a Cougar comeback along with junior Jack Breton, who shut down Gilford’s best player, Uicker, while also getting his own points (eight) after turning his ankle in the regular season finale last Friday.

“He’s a warrior, one of our best defensive players, best offensive players,” DiBenedetto said. “I gave him a break and then he came out and just played the best defense he’s played all year.”

Henderson, meanwhile, led the Cougars with 15 points, five straight (a big 3 and two free throws) to tie the game at 48 with 2:25 to play. He and Breton hit freebies – but only one out of two each trips 23 seconds apart – to give Campbell a 50-48 lead with that 1:14 left.

“He really stepped up huge,” DiBenedetto said of Henderson. “He played great. He kind of lit a fire under our guys.”

Campbell got nine from Austin McHugh and eight apiece from Logan Rice and Tyler Matthews. What also helped Campbell’s comeback was Gilford’s ineptitude from the foul line (just 4 of 11). That certainly had to have the Cougars feeling they could handle overtime just fine.

“I felt good about our chances,” DiBenedetto said. “We’ve got a great junior class coming back, I’m looking forward to this season. I wish this season wasn’t ending.”

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