Mt. Abram senior Jim Barker winds his way through traffic with this lay-up in a game against Carrabec last Tuesday, Jan. 26. (David Hart photo) SALEM -– Senior Jim Barker added 34 points to a team high 83 in a big game with the Cobras of Carrabec last Tuesday.

The Cobras battled with a 24-point second quarter to keep Mt. Abram from blowing it out early.

MTA had a 40-34 half time lead and whatever was determined in the lockers at the mid-point worked. The Roadrunners came out and put 28 third-quarter points on the board compared to the Cobras’ 10.

“We just tried to step up our intensity and keep their big man off the boards,” said Jarrod Blood a senior captain for Mt. Abram basketball team. Blood contributed that evening with 15 points.

Carrabec’s Aaron Lane was still a factor scoring a team high 27 points that evening.

”For us this was one of the biggest games of the year. This was a great pump-up game for the next three games, but obviously if we wanted a big win this season, this game would have been the one we want,” said senior captain Joey Lampron.

Lampron said it was a just a mix of everything that worked so well for the Roadrunners that night. “We were really pumped in the locker room and came out ready to play. We just knew what we wanted to do and wanted to let them know that they were at Mt. Abram.”

The last time the two teams played Carrabec got a late game bucket to seal a win over MTA in N. Anson. Lampron said when they played them last, they lost due to a lack of team intensity. “We just didn’t have it like

we did tonight,” Lampron said.

MTA coach Mike DeRaps called the last game “a lack of concentration.”

“This game was so important especially being a rivalry game. It doesn’t matter who has a better record it’s always going to be intense,” team captain Barker explained.

Barker said that once Lampron and Blood starting getting hot, it led to him getting some good looks from outside the arc. Barker drained a total of five 3-pointers that evening.

A fan favorite that evening may have been Barker’s behind-the-back pass to sophomore center Tyler Hupper who quickly banked it off the glass for two points late in the game.

“I was driving the ball when a defender was cutting in. He (Hupper) was watching me the whole way. We made eye contact for a split - second and it seemed like that pass was the best possible option. He just caught it perfectly and laid it up and in. It was a great play on his part,” Barker explained. Hupper scored 12 points that evening while pulling down 15 off the boards. Lampron also had 12 points that evening.

Senior Kenny Moir also contributed in the paint with 14 rebounds that evening.

Barker said that he’s been with many of these players since his freshman year, and one of their goals has always been to do what they did that evening.

DeRaps said the team met before the game and they all agreed that they were capable of putting up a big win.

“Tonight we thought a lot better out there,” DeRaps explained. “We stuck to our game plan defensively… all in all this was the best game that I’ve seen these guys play in two years. You know, 83 points, you can’t complain about that. Not many teams are going to stay with you when you score 83.”

DeRaps said it was certainly a lot of fun and the kids were very happy and really got into it. “We stuck to our game plan and everybody did what they had to do.”

DeRaps said there’s an inter-league trophy between the leading teams (Mt. Abram, Carrabec and Madison) and this award is something that they are trying to achieve.

The boys will host Madison in the final regular season game of the year this Thursday, Feb. 4. Junior varsity action will commence at 5:30 p.m.