Dec. 18th Games

I'm so excited the full season has started that I just couldn't wait to preview the Dec. 18th games this coming Tuesday.

For those of you that can't wait for Tuesday to watch some basketball Canaan-Pittsburg is hosting United Christian from Vermont in a huge Girls/Boys doubleheader Monday night. If there are any Forum members up.... Way up north in the Granite State, would love to get some info on this

Congrats to the Mascenic girls team for securing their first victory in over 6 years and breaking their 101 game losing streak !!!!


Dec.18th Boy's games:

Alvirne at Pinkerton: Big game for both teams coming off opening night losses. The Astros have a big lineup. The Broncos are tough enough to contend with it.

Dover at BG: A couple of teams fighting to get into the mix of discussion for Top 8.

Winny at South: Key game for two 1 - 0 teams looking to build on the momentum of opening night victories.

West at Londonderry: Key game for both teams trying to get their first W of the season.

Salem at Memorial: The most interesting game of the night. A quick athletic and talented Crusader team playing a hard nosed defensive minded Salem team. Great contrast of team styles.

John Stark at Pembroke: Very good D2 matchup. John Stark has the weapons to compete with the undisputed early season #1 in D2.

Souhegan at Lebanon: The Sabers have an extremely tough schedule to start their season. They were beaten by a very good H/B team last Friday and now must take a long bus ride to a tough team and place to play.


Dec.18th Girl's games:

Memorial at Salem: The Lady Crusaders need a victory after opening 0 - 2. Salem is improved. Memorial must avoid falling to 0 - 3.

Pinkerton at Alvirne: Biggest matchup of the night on the Ladies side of the Ledger. Winner of this game builds a lot of momentum. One interesting note for Pinkerton. They defeated Winny by nearly 30 and one of their best scorers, Kayla Stacy, had an off game. If she clicks with Fortier, Martin and Breslin the Lady Broncos will be in trouble.

Is jocarl from west out This year due to violations? Cause I think the lancers match up well without him there

JoCarl was not on the West roster the other night

If anyone wishes to join me, I am going to be at Merrimack HS for the Timberlane/Mack game. I will be scouting both teams for my team and will be at Merrimack on the 20th as well. I think the game Bedford/Merrimack is going to be a great one, very anxious to see that. Heard some interesting things about both teams.

Bg over Dover- Lynn and boykins will be very tough to cover for Dover. Also scoring close to 90 points I have them winning this one.

Alvirne over Pinkerton- Pinkerton I just think doesn't have it this year. They are one dimensional and easy to cover. Livingston will go off for a big night tomorrow night.

Winny over south- Winny had good game they have full head of steam from comeback win over PA and I think you will See in my mind an upset.

west over Londonderry- the lancers can't handle city kids. They played weak against memorial, they need to prove me otherwise tomorrow night against west. They will match it up ell if they decide to play tough.

Memorial over salem-memorial is to tough and athletic for Salem to match up with. They listen to coach Quirk they will win the state title for the next couple of years.

Jo Carl sat in front of me at the west game and said he was not academically eligible,

I asked him the sophomore pg name he said Alfred no last name then told me he could not play.

Alfred's last name is Nyonee. He was over at central his freshman year. He only played on freshman team over at central

Cannot wait to go see Central @ Concord tonight

I was real impress with Alfred Nyonee game he is going to be a good player.

Half Memorial 40 Salem 22

3rd Dover 38 BG 34

Pinkerton up 6 after 3

Salem made some nice adnustments and cut the Memkral lead to 50 to 44, but Kantu hit a half court 3 at the buzzer to give Memkrial & 53 to 44 lead after 3.

Final Memorial 73 Salem 51

There won't be too many starting fives better than the Crusaders in D1.

Probably not surprising at all but Merrimack beat Timberlane 62-36.

south 80 winnacunnet 55
winnacunnet was down 7 at half...

Surprised by that score South

must have played really well in the second half

Londonderry with a good win over West 62-46. Good balanced scoring but need to shoot better to beat the top teams.

Well here is your upset of the season so far:

Dover girls beat BG girls 47 to 42




Alvirne boys 57 to 51 over Pinkerton

Pinkerton girls stay undefeated with a 59 to 45 victory over Alvirne

BG boys continues to score points. They beat Dover 76 to 73.

So, I walk into the Memorial gym at halftime and they are beating Salem 40 - 22. I go up to one of my associates and ask, "Wow, this is a large lead for Memorial against a good team." My associate says, "The athleticism of the starting 5 for Memorial is off the charts." More on the starting 5 later.

Salem scored as many points in the 3rd quarter as they did in the first half: 22. They shot the ball well and forced Memorial into some turnovers. They were quicker to the ball than Memorial. The Crusaders' body language wasn't the best when they took Salem's best shot. Salem cut the Memorial lead to 6 at 50 - 44 and with time running down Kante heaves up a half court 3 at the buzzer which banks in to give Memorial some momentum and a 53 to 44 lead at the end of 3. This was a huge game changing shot by Kante. If he doesn't hit the shot Salem is only down 6 with a lot of momentum heading into the 4th period.

At this point Kabongo took over the game with his scoring and rebounding. Kabongo has a ready made D1 body and a skill set and diversity to go with it. He is such a versatile player. He can truly play the 5, 4, 3 or 2. He also can handle the ball well. He was always in the right place at the right time on offense whether it was slashing and finishing, shooting a medium range jumper or making a nifty pass to set up a mate. He has a placid demeanor which serves him well, even after he makes a mistake. He is so key to the Crusader fortunes this season.

Tong was quiet in the 2nd half. Kante handled the ball well and scored when needed. A year of maturity has helped him on the court. When Salem worried about Kabongo, Zoubel or Kante it freed up Joel Mayola to hit some dagger 3's from "Majak Wenyin territory."

Zoubel injured his ankle in the 2nd half. The way he rolled around at mid court off the court was eerily similar to when Kante suffered his devastating ankle injury last season in the Trinity game. Zoubel returned to the game hobbling. Here in lies what could be the achilles heal for Memorial:

Lack of depth.


Majak Wenyin is ineligible. Tyler Kelly transfered to Central. Wenyin Gabriel transferred to Trinity. Unless a Memorial player was sick or not at the game, their starting 5 of Tong, Zoubel, Kabongo, Mayola and Kante are it for Memorial. If one of these players suffers an injury or gets into foul trouble the Crusader depth will be severely tested. The good news for Crusader fans is that these 5 players are in such great physical shape and so marvelously athletic that it is conceivable they could play 25 to 32 minutes in a game, take some punches mentally and physically and hit back with the physical ferocity of a Tommy Hearns or Marvin Hagler in their prime.

It will be fascinating to see how the starting 5 of Memorial adjusts to the bumps and pot holes that are sure to come their way as they travel down the D1 basketball road.

Tough loss for Souhegan boys as they lose to Lebanon 70 - 54. Dave Haley said one of Lebanon's key Bigs was missing for this game. Souhegan starts off the season 0 - 2. I'm sure they didn't expect to be winless after their first 2 games even though their opponents were the tough H/B and Lebanon teams.

Pembroke beat a good John Stark team in convincing fashion 79 - 60.

Mascenic girl's win streak stops at 1 as they lose to Campbell 80 - 45. Hopefully it won't be another 6 years before the Mascenic ladies see their next victory.

Derryfield boys get a big W in D4 with a 53 to 44 victory over tough Epping.

I missed the game last night unfortunately. I went to the south game, it being down the street from my house, and the south game proves they have potential. I predicted against them cause I didnt think they could score like they did. But back to Londonderry I was told they shut down Flynn and did a good job of getting up and playing physical. In my mind I was all for them this year but they need to prove it to me again against Spaulding.

The score isn't posted on the NHIAA website yet, but Spaulding defeated Keene 77-52 last night.

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121219/GJSPORTS_01/121219248/-1/FOSSPORTS