Feb. 9th Games

BG at Alvirne: Migs' team is fighting for a home playoff game. Alvirne is fighting to stay away from the dreaded #16 "Seed of Death."

Exeter at Central: When they met in the QCIBT final this game was over very early as the Blue Hawks cruised to an unexpected easy victory. The Central players have been talking about the rematch for some time now. It'll be interesting to see how Exeter responds to playing an amped up Little Green team in the Simon Gym. This will be a good test for Exeter in a playoff type atmosphere in a regular season game.

South at Winny: A nice match up of evenly matched teams. They are tied for 8th and this one should go to the last possession.


Brady at Owl High School: A very good D2 game. Timby needs a signature win to start making a run into March. Could this be the game? Brady is coming off a rescheduled Saturday nail-bitter win over Hanover.

Memorial at Trinity: This is a rescheduled game from last Friday's snow day. Memorial has 3 losses and all to good teams: Winny, Pinkerton and Central. In their 7 victories the Crusaders haven't scored less than 80 points and have averaged 86 points/game. Trinity is coming off a 17 point loss to Keene. It'll be interesting to see how Trinity and their comfy confines try to hold the high octane Memorial offense down tonight.

After taking a week off to re-focus my thoughts, I am back! Sorry for the hiatus OnTheBlock.

I am currently 44-18 and here are the picks. . .

Game of the Night presented by Wednesday Night Bowling league at Stadium Ten Pin on Valley St features #4 Exeter v. #3 Central-- The first meeting of these two was in front of a packed house at Memorial. Exeter handed Central a 20 point loss. Exeter struggled after that win, but seems to have found their groove again. . . Central is looking for revenge on their home floor. The first team to 70 wins this game. Exeter wins

BG v. Alvirne-- I have said over and over again how much I enjoy watching Alvirne play. They grind out possessions and work hard on both sides of the ball. BG is a team to watch for come playoff time. . . they have proven they can play with the big boys, wins over Central and Merrimack. This is the type of game BG needs to win if they want a shot of hosting a playoff game in March. BG wins.

Dover v. Pembroke-- Pembroke is still looking for their first win in the post Alosa era. . . man I wonder what the big difference is in Pembroke since Alosa left scratch Dover wins.

#1 Pinkerton v. Spaulding-- Pinkerton is the team to beat in Division 1. They are firing on all cylinders right now. Romick, Rizzo, Morris and Olson are impossible to match up against. Spaulding will battle, but Pinkerton is too much. Pinkerton wins.

South v. Winnacunnet-- Winny needs a win badly after suffering two losses last week. South needs a win to remain in the top 8 after a bad loss to Salem. Winnacunnet's extended 2-3 will keep South off balance. Winny wins.

I am also going to include Wednesday's game as well

North v. Bedford-- Bedford is coming off of two losses after making their first appearance. Gendron needs to play on the block if they want to win this game. Hale needs a big night for North. North wins.

Love the different places who are "presenting" your picks NH12345.  

Hope you're getting a free appetizer, drink or gift card from some of these fine establishments

Welcome back NH12345. 50-12 going into tonight.

Game of the night:
Exeter (7-2) @ Central (8-2) - Exeter has scored 80+ points in each of their last 4 games, and boasts the 2nd most potent offense in D1 (behind Memorial). Central has only allowed 70 points once on the season, and is out for revenge. Tonight the Defense steps up at home, and keeps this game in the 60's. Central wins.

South(6-4) @ Winnacunnet (6-4) - Home playoff position at stake! Both teams have shown flashes all season, and either can be dangerous come playoff time. Tonight, Frechette, Genao, and Williams have the scoring, and the ability to break the Warriors press. South goes on the road and wins.

Bishop Guertin (5-5) @ Alvirne (3-7) - BG is just a much better team at home than on the road. Tonight, the Bronco's balanced attack, with 4 players averaging around 10 ppg, and gritty Defense gets them the win. Alvirne.

Dover (1-9) @ Pembroke (0-11) - Someone's losing streak ends tonight. Dover just has more going for them. I'll take the Green Wave on the road. Dover.

Pinkerton (10-1) @ Spaulding (3- - The Red Raiders are coming off what might be their finest performance of the season in a tough loss to a very good North team. However, they are running into an Astro's team who just held off a desperate Londonderry squad who gave everything they had on Saturday. The Astro's are playing unselfish basketball with a purpose, and have 8 or 9 guys contributing. Astro's roll.

Wednesday:
North (7-3) @ Bedford (7-4) - Silva pesters Hughes, McCarthy hangs all over Gendron, and Hale rains down 3's. North sends Bedford one step closer to a road playoff team. North wins.

Signature win T&F. Could be a dangerous team in the tournament. The #12 seed no one wants.

Yes Bosco, 62 to 57 victors. I see a big Owl presence on the HS basketball landscape this morning. I also see T & F having some generous slices of pizza at Rte 125 Pizza in Plaistow courtesy of the combined financial efforts of Coach Jeff and Bosco

Alvirne upsets BG.

Central gets revenge on Exeter. That's about a 40 point margin turnaround from Christmas time.

Winny surprisingly lays the lumber to South in what should've been a closer game.

No Dover - Pembroke score. Perhaps the first tie in NHIAA basketball history?  

Memorial "only" scores 69 points in defeating Trinity 69 to 59.

Winni- WOW! I like Winni, but somehow I didn't see this one coming. Now doing some Wednesday morning QBing, it seems so obvious. Winni is 5-0 at home with quality wins over Pinkerton, Memorial, and South. On the road they are 2-4, with all losses against quality teams. Bad news for Exeter and Central who have to travel to Winni. This is a top 8 team, and need to be considered a contender come March. This team, not Salem or BG, is the team you don't want to see in the playoffs.

Not surprised that no one from Dover or Pembroke is tweeting. It's been a tough year.

Saw Spaulding last night, Cal Connelly impressed. The Red Raiders have a ton of talented underclassmen getting important Varsity experience minutes. Next year and the next few years look very promising for this team.

North/Bedford tonight, and Exeter/ Winni tomorrow will start to really shake out the top 8 going into Friday's games.

[quote=Memorial "only" scores 69 points in defeating Trinity 69 to 59.[/quote]

Should really have only been 67, with less than 10 seconds left, Trinity conceded allowing the clock to run out as did all but one Memorial player who chose to pick up and take the ball in for a totally uncontested layup at the 2.5 second mark.

Maybe, the Memorial player who received the "gift lay-up" from Trinity, was being taped by one of his parents. There is the "legend" and the "player" when it comes to home videos being shown at a family get together. More often than not, the Legend is more interesting than the Player.