March 5th Games

#1 Winny at #10 Alvrine: If winny wins they lock up the #1 seed. If they lose it's tiebreaker city to decide the top 4 to 6 seeds. This would be a nice win for alvrine to get some momentum going into the playoffs. Alvrine will have to go on the road in their prelim game no matter what happens tonight.

#14 Exeter at #2 Dover: This should be a close game and there is a possibility these 2 teams could play again in the prelim playoff on Wednesday.

#12 Londonderry at #2 Merrimack: Senior night in Merrimack should be special for the core group of Tomahawks. It should be interesting to see how the Watson health issue plays out. These 2 teams could play each other also next Wednesday.

#11 Central at #9 Salem: If it's a Tuesday or Friday then it must be another close game for Central. This one will be no different, although, the health of Wickey should be taken into account. If Wickey doesn't play Gallant could have a good night and help Salem to a victory. Win or lose Salem has the 9th seed locked up.

#8 Memorial at #16 Keene: Memorial needs this game to lock up a home prelim game. They could finish 7th to 9th. Keene is in a must win to get into the tournament. Will it be the Good Memorial or the Bad Memorial tonight?

#7 West at #15 Spaulding: This is a must win for West to secure a home prelim game. Valentin participated in Senior Night on Tuesday against BG at West and scored 14 points.

#2 Pinkerton at #17 South: Pinkerton is the hottest team in the upper tier right now and South had the big victory over Memorial. Could South circle the wagons one more time and come up with another upset?

T@F,are you feeling okay? Your previews are usually filled with insight and humor,seems like you mailed this one in.I compare you to Bill Simmons the espn blogger.Funny, insightful,witty.I know it's been a long season,and you may be tired but suck it up.Playoffs start next week, I need you on top of your blogging game.

What s the Health issues with Whicky and Watson?

Wickey is fine... almost certain he's playing tonight.

Central has had a bit of a weird flu with a nasty cough going through the halls... Wick was victim of it earlier this week... Lacount had it prior.... Pretty sure all is good and the LG will be full force tonight.

Curious about Watson, myself though!

Winny locks up #1 seed with a 66 - 61 victory over Alvrine.

Memorial beats Keene 55 - 40 and West defeats Spaulding 55 - 51. These results along with Salem beating Central 61 - 55 means that the #8 vs #9 game is set:

Memorial will be hosting red hot Salem in the 8 - 9 game. Salem has won 6 in a row and 11 of their last 12.

Big Guy - My car didn't make any turn tonight on the highway. It was parked in the garage. I had to work late and couldn't go to any games. Stunk to be T & F tonight !!

North beat Timby 60 - 48.

You didn't miss much at BG.Bg now plays alvirne,at merrimack,and winnie in the semis if they keep winning.I like their bracket.I think alvirne has the 12 not north,but I could be wrong.

Have you done all the tiebreakers, Big Guy?

Pete Tarrier is estimating, but he has:

1) Winny
2) to 6) Anybody's guess ??
7) West
Memorial
9) Salem
10) Alvrine
11) Central
12) North
13) Londonderry
14) Exeter
15) Spaulding
16) GTown

Alvirne, Central and North all beat each other so the next step is record verse playoff teams.

I think it's playoff teams that all 3 teams have played.

Green Wave associate just informed me that Dover might be 6th.

Winny/alvirine-
alvirine led for 3 qtrs plus, but winny had a tremendous 4th qtr led by defense and Harry knowles, who seemed to be all over the court.
At one point in the 3rd qtr, alvrine led by 14 popints, and seemed to have control of the game.
Then Knowles, who was harassed all night by Ohearn, took control and drove multiple times to the hoop and was fouled every time.
The key for winny was defense in 4th qtr, making free throws and keeping their composure.

I looked at their schedules Central 7 wins not counting keene but counting Goffstwon

Alvirne and North 5 each

The two underdog teams you don't want to face in the 1st round are salem and Exeter.
Salem is on a roll and exeter seemed to lose by few points every night.

The Salem at Memorial game, for all intents and purposes, is really like a quarterfinal game as opposed to a prelim game.

The top 6 will be...1.Winni, 2.Pinkerton, 3.Trinity, 4.Merrimack, 5.BG, 6.Dover

could make for an interesting 2nd round game @ Merrimack...bringing all the BG kids back home

I thought it would be interesting to see my post from the Jan. 12th Memorial victory over Salem. I'm starting to get psyched already:


Memorial 51 Salem 46

Salem 18 10 12 6 - 46
Mem 13 13 18 7 - 51

Salem pounded the ball down low to Gallant early and often with success as 3 Memorial big men each had 2 fouls in the 1st period. Gallant went to the FT line early and made the freebies to give Salem the 18 - 13 lead at the end of the 1st period. Matt Couture had a nice 2nd period as he hit a 3 and a couple of nice medium range jumpers. The teams exchanged leads and went after it hard in the 3rd. Memorial slowed down Gallant in the 3rd period, but LaRosa started heating up with a couple of 3's. The 4th period became a cat and mouse game as Memorial slowed the pace. This seemed to cool off Salem as LaRosa missed a few shots and Gallant while effective couldn't knock down a few chances from the FT line. Memorial gladly accepted the cold 4th period shooting of LaRosa and Gallant and walked away with the 5 point victory.

Salem - Gallant 22(including 12 - 21 from the FT line), LaRosa 15, Lorenz 7 and the rest of the team 2 points.

Memorial Couture 13, Morgan12 and Fitz 9. Few players with 2 - 5 points.

Salem had only 12 FGs and was 19 - 29 from the FT line. They had key misses down the stretch which would've tightened the Crusader screws. Salem was the best 0 -3 team in Class L before the game and now they are the best 0 - 4 team in Class L. The big man commitee of Memorial had their hands full with Gallant from start to finish. Even though Gallant isn't a true center he is a force down low and displayed some very nice skill with his low post moves. His motor is always running. Salem just needs more players to step up. Cannone was very quiet tonight. Gallant, LaRosa and Lorenz combined for 44 of Salem's 46 points. It's tough to get a W in Class L when this happens..

All the games down to London at the 13 seed will be close tight games and if Spaulding and Exeter get the right match up they can win too

Carp, have you gone over all those tie-breakers with a fine toothcomb?

Big Guy - Have you gone tie-breaker city too?

Tom King reported that Eric Watson has some type of illness that could be heart related or not. He said when you hear the things about this situation you say to yourself, "Watson won't be able to play for the rest of the season."

This news coming on the heels of the news that Zach Stevens has a torn ACL and will be out until September as reported by Jeremy Leveille.

yep...Pinky 11-4 vs tourney teams (others 10-4), then: Trinity 2-1 vs merri/bg/dover (others 1-2), then: merri beat bg & dover, then: bg beat dover

Carp, if we go by your standings then we have some fascinating information. The only conflict I've heard by others is Merry and BG flip flopping. Look at the following:

1) Winny
2) Pinkerton
3) Trinity
4) Merry
5) BG
6) Dover
7) West
Memorial
9) Salem
10) Alvrine
11) Central
12) North
13) Lond
14) Exeter
15) Spaulding
16) GTown

Prelim Matchup Regular Season Result

#16 Goffstown at #1 Winnacunnet Winnacunnet by 15

#15 Spaulding at #2 Pinkerton Pinkerton by 13

#14 Exeter at #3 Trinity Trinity by 10

#13 Londonderry at #4 Merrimack Merrimack by 9

#12 North at #5 BG BG by 2

#11 Central at #6 Dover Dover by 3 in OT

#10 Alvrine at #7 West West by 3

#9 Salem at #8 Memorial Memorial by 5

In looking at the prelim matchups at this point the only games you can say with near certainty are Ws for the favored team is Winny and Pinky. With Trinity losing Stevens and Exeter playing tough ball this game will be close. Londonderry played Merry very tough tonight. North at BG..... wow. It was 2 points the last time they played. City rivalry in a prelim game?? Central at Dover will be very close if Wickey is at 100 %. Alvrine at West is pick em along with Salem at Memorial.

Hit up this link for a full recap of the following games...Winn/Alvirne, Londonderry/Merr, Exeter/Dover and Central/Salem. The hightlight is "Friday Night Lights" reporter Rory Duyon getting "stopped" by the Durham cops...WHILE he was on the air! You gotta hear this!



And don't forget to listen to WGAM 900AM-Nashua/1250AM-Manchester on Saturday morning from 8a-10a...EJ Perry-Salem, Jeff Gustavson-Londonderry, Eric Saucier-Conant, Alex Burt-Dover, Jay McKenna-Winnacunnet, Anthony Floras-Merrimack and Zach Mathieu-Pinkerton. www.fnlnh.com