Dec. 14th Games

There are some great games to kick off the first full night of HS hoops in NH. You can't go wrong no matter what section of the state you are in.

There is a huge Girls/Boys doubleheader at Bedford on Friday. At 5:30 BG plays Bedford. Defending state champ BG welcomes the Bulldogs to D1. At 7:00 pm The BG boys play Bedford. Wow, Migs and Fitzy matching up. Bedford boy's first game in D1. BG with the jury still out whether they will be a top 6 team this season or float between 7th to 10th.

Boys Games:

Memorial at Londonderry. Coach Quirk returns to boy's basketball and with a team that on paper should be a top 5 team. Londonderry.... Oh my Lancers..... Hearing good things early season about Londonderry. This will be a good barometer game for the Lancers and a good barometer game to see if Coach Quirk can mesh with this talented Crusader squad.

Central at Alvirine. This is a good matchup. The Broncos will be tough this season. Central carries the burden of being a pre season #1, but with a lot of chinks in their Little Green armor.

Pinkerton at Winny. Jeremy is pushing Winny to be a top team this season. My jury is still out on the Warriors until I see some game results. I think Pinkerton will be dropping a few rungs on the ladder from their #5 seed last season.

Salem at Merrimack. I never discount Salem and their coaching staff. I'm expecting Salem to be a top 5 team again this season. Merrimack will be better than some people think. This is a great early season matchup.

Pelham at Pembroke. A nice D2 matchup. Will Pembroke get some consistent paint scoring this season to take the pressure off if the outside shots of Welch and Persons aren't falling? The Spartans have it all laid out in front of them. A lot is expected of Coach Alosa's squad. They played very hungry in fall ball.


Girls' games:

Winny at Pinky: A huge game to determine a possible top 4 seed. Winny is a rung down from last season. Pinky is status quo.

Londonderry at Memorial: A game to determine where Memorial will stand this year after graduating Elozovic. Can Hartford, Fletcher and Grissom score enough to keep pace with one of the top teams of D1?

My preview is on the site today, I'm heading to Pinkerton @ Winnacunnet Friday night and Pete and Jon Kesty will be covering & doing video for Central/Alvirne so those are our two games of the week.

I'm waiting for my message from GNG telling me I'm under estimating BG this year....

BG and Merrimack will both be top 8 by the end of the season.

Maybe top 6. It will be fun to watch Lunn. He could be the one, to lead them on a post season run.Boykins much improved. Remember the name Zimmerman.


D1 might be as talent challenged for as far back as I can remember.

GNG TOP 5
CENTRAL
TRINITY
MEMORIAL
SPAULDING
SOUTH

I will be at the Bg- Bedford games. Post game at the Jade.

I look forward to your preview every season. Excellant as usual.


You heard it hear first.

West will not make the playoffs.

Cannot wait to play on Friday vs alvirne!

I will be at the lancers crusaders game giving input after the game... Can't wait!!!!!

I agree with GNG for a change. I think BG will be better than most people think. If Lunn can stay out of foul trouble he will be tough to handle inside. Boykin is really fun to watch as well...but he's foul prone too. Can't wait to get to Hudson on Friday night for the Alvirne/Central game!

You being at the Jade after the game,, that is something different from last year....
You are correct about D 1 being talent challenged. Any player with true talent is away at prep school. I think BG can be a sleeper this year. Lunn can be oneof the toughest match ups if he can get the ball on the blocks. Toscno is better than people give him credit and Boykins reminds me of Mugsy Bouges...quick on quick.
They need more talent than these three players and need to run an offense with down screens for baseline opportunities.Running a flex with Lunn ending up at the high post will notaccomplish anything. Like I said they could be a sleeper along with maybe a Salem.

I'll be at Dover vs Exeter, don't forget to listen on your TuneIn Radio App while you're at the other games guys

I spoke to Jim Migneault and he likes this group. They are just really young..Top 8 would be a great coaching job. I do believe in both Lunn & Boykins ( I put them both on the watch list for All-state) but it's what is around them (and kids like Zimmerman developing ) that we need to watch.

Lot's of Memorial chatter amongst coaches...West as well.....you need to see where both those teams are in late Feb.

Honestly the parity 1 thru 14 is what stands out the most...teams like Dover and Londonderry could climb into the top 10 and it wouldn't shock me at all.

I agree with you 100%.

Nothing would surprise or shock me this season.

It's as wide open as it's has been in quite some time. Should make for a great season with alot of close games.

My five second observations from all four divisons after having conversations with 37 coaches;

D4: Very good top 6 and then it drops waaayyy down. Top 6 teams are all very good though as evidenced by the Epping/Newmarket game last night.
D3: Conant is #1, then take 2 thru 8, toss them in the air and see where they land because they could fall in any order.
D2: There is 1, 1a, 3...and then the same thing...toss 4 through 12 in the air and they could land anywhere. Oyster River could finish 5th or 14th.
D1: Took me five minutes to pick Trinity at 2...it's wide open.

What are your predictions on tomorrow nights games

I predict Manchester Central beating Alvirne, Trinity beating Concord, Dover beating Exeter, Nashua South beating Keene, Manchester Memorial beating Londonderry, Manchester West beating Nashua North, Salem beating Merrimack, Bishop Guertin beating Bedford, Spaulding beating Timberlane Regional, and Winnacunnet beating Pinkerton Academy. - Michael "M-Mart" Martineau #14, senior mgr. for the Manchester Central High School Little Green Boy's Varsity Basketball team.

OK results fast and furious:

Pinkerton girls make major statement and defeat Winny 67 to 38. Fortier with 15, Martin with 14 and Breslin with 10 lead the Lady Astros in their impressive win.

BG girls beat Bedford 51 to 42.

Pinkerton boys were up by 1 with 1:30 to go and then went scoreless for the rest of the game as winny wins by 8.

Central boys beat Alvirne by 16, but the game was much closer. Alvirne was up 30 to 23 at halftime.

Seems like BG is pulling away from Bedford by 15 with about 2 minutes to go. Migs received a Technical. The Bedford gym was packed and there was a "Durham like" atmosphere.

North boys beat West by 2.

Trinity was up by nearly 30 late in the game with Concord. I heard the 2 new transfers for Trinity played well. I also heard Gabriel didn't exactly get a great start to his POY Road.

Memorial beat Londonderry..... boy's game.

Londonderry beat Memorial 55 - 40 ...... girl's game

North West game was great, North was up by about 8 the half pulled away end of third start of 4th up by 16, West made a great rally and cut it to two North made the ft down the stretch big win for a young team.

G-Bear, do you see either North or West cracking the Top 8 or Top 10 this coming season?

Big win for Merrimack boys as they beat Salem 57 to 48.

Who says no offense in D1 boys? Final BG 89 Bedford 74

No, not North too young and inexperienced but will be a tough match up all year. It was tough to get a read on West, they seemed young but I did not have a roster, but when they played D in the 4th quarter it was fun to watch, their sophomore PG was playing great D and they have a shooter number 34 who hit some big shots

Sounds about right G-Bear. I saw West in a scrimmage 2 weeks ago and it seemed they had a competitive starting 5, but no bench. Not having Bureau this season will hurt them a lot. That West shooter you were talking about is probably Nolan Flynn. He's one of the best shooters in the state.

FLynn I though might be him but he seems to have gotten bigger

Would number 5 Sophomore pG

My God, GNG is trying to post information about the BG boys victory over Bedford, but if he would stop calling me, maybe he could actually inform Forum members about the game....

Pinkerton Girls 67 Winny 38

Winny - 4 13 11 10 - 38

Pinky - 14 22 12 19 - 67

I was at the Central/Alvirne game and the game was a lot closer then the score predicted. Alvirne was able to run in the 1st half, got quite a lot of Fast Break points and quick scores off of the dribble. Central was impatient in the 1st half and took tons of quick long shots. Alvirne had a Diamond and 1 to cover Pelletier and did a nice job. 2nd Half, it was reversed. Central kept moving the ball, being patient, and that got Alvirne all out of rhythm and ended up taking quick shots also. Alvirne only scored 12 pts in the 2nd half. Central also turned up the heat and pressured their dribble, Alvirne turned it over, got careless and took quick shots. Central played a great game. Central is def a team to watch this year.