Class L Semis

Pinkerton defeated Dover 61 - 57

Zach Mathieu had 32 points on 15 - 20 shooting from the field.

Winny is up on BG at halftime 36 to 18.

End of the 3rd quarter and Winny is winning 44 - 30

Unbelievable comeback by Bg in the 4th quarter. They cut the deficit to 2 and 3 points a few times

wow...amazing game by Mathieu...good to see a team finally use their inside strengths to win a game...seems so many fall into the run and gun trap instead of sticking to the game plan when they have a size advantage.

T&F, is the bg game final? If so what ended up happening bg came back to win?

Winny survives a furious comeback by BG and advances to the championship game to play Pinkerton.

Now, the top 2 seeds play for the Class I and Class L title games this Saturday.

BG was down by 22 points in the 3rd quarter and pecked away until they got the deficit under 10 in the 4th quarter and really had Winny on the ropes. Knowles was turning the ball over a bit during this run, but came up big in the last 2 minutes. McGrail came up big and scored around 14 points. Dunn was key in breaking the BG press. Winny takes this one 63 - 56.

Mathieu scored 22 points in the first half of the Pinkerton - Dover game.

Lundholm will be the place to be in NH on Saturday afternoon.

Finally a coach in Class L that will pound it inside. The main problem with NH basketball it is to guard oriented and teams shot to many threes. I really hope Pinkerton wins so the rest of the coaches can see that you can play from the inside out like the game is supposed to be played.

I totally agree, Goldenbear...too many teams/coaches get caught up in the run and gun...the use of bigs is a lost art in NH hoop.

G-Bear and Carp, the problem is, where have all the big men gone? There weren't that many really good Bigs in NH this season. Mathieu, who is playing the best playing Big right now, would rather be hitting a baseball. You'll be lucky to have about 5 to 6 really good Bigs next year in Class L: Madol, Wickey, Gallant, Green, Faustino and Patrikis. Coaches can't pound the ball down low if there's nobody that knows what to do with the rock once they get it.

oyster river last night...chased pembroke and played there game all night. not necessarily meaning 1 great big man, just more of a philosophy, when you have some size and still refuse to use it

Oyster River's Bigs looked good in the first period against Pembroke. They disappeared for the rest of the game. Goodwin and Nadeau combined for 12 points against Pembroke. Are you kidding me? Poitras was a no show last Friday in the quarterfinals at Pembroke. I know Pembroke plays good defense, but are you kidding me?

Where have all the big men gone in NH?

honestly, T&F, they all want to become 6'3"-6'-6" wingmen who can shoot and drive. No one wants to battle in the paint and work with their back to the basket...kids start shooting three's at a very young age...whether the play the 5 spot or the 1...and the OR bigs disappeared because they were no longer used as an option...the Bobcats decided to get out and run with Pembroke...oops...a 14-12 lead turned into a large defeat...mostly coinciding with the change in their style of play

AAU has a lot to do with Bigs not playing like Bigs. Bigs want to run, shoot and free wheel in AAU instead of pounding the paint which they and their coaches see as boring basketball.

The thing that is interesting to me is the teams with players that have hoop as their second sport beat the teams that are more just basketball players. I know BG roster has some of both but their main players are all hoop players first and the same with Dover mainly hoop players first against Pinkerton whose main players don't play hoop year around either. Obviously the opposite has happened in class I but still interesting to see where the point of diminishing returns starts to take place. Think of it 50 plus AAU games with multiply practices a week in the summer. Summer League games with High School team and Fall League games that everyone thought were going to decide who the best teams were. Burn out for some of the players? Who knows but if I where a freshman I would think twice to giving up another sport and play as many as I could for as long as I could.
Congrats to Pinkie and Winnie, it should be an entertaining final!

AAU and the false hope that many of these kids get that they can be DI-II players. 6'5" NH kids don't go on to play PF or C at that level...so these AAU coaches convince them that the need to be able to play in space to get there, when they don't have the talent in the first place. Too bad, because a lot of these kids...a coulple of BG kids come to mind, could've really developed into dominant inside players.

Totally agree with you on burnout NH sportsfan. I have talked to HS coaches that complain the AAU season is too long. They say players tune them out during the season because they already were coached and yelled at for the AAU season and then the HS coaches get them and the player's minds are like twice baked potatoes.

T and F since I am a fan of AAU I was looking at the Summer and Fall leagues that put you up against the same players over and over. To me the AAU experience is totally different and really does help the player because of the level of comp. (still very long season) To me in the fall play soccer, football, cross country or volleyball and come back and enjoy the regular season even more.

Yes, AAU does provide a great level of competition and exposure, but it's still too long. Organizations want to make a lot of money from AAU tournaments and there are plenty of teams willing to oblige by playing in tournaments all spring, summer and sometimes into the fall.

My son and his choice was not about anything other than his love for the game. I really think every situation is different. My son played travel everything when he was younger. He played travel soccer and indoor soccer. He played Little League and AAU Baseball also.Even played Milford Mustangs football and had a great year but as he said, they stop after every play I hate that.
It really came down to his absolute love for the game. He was bored in baseball when he did not pitch, soccer was fun in the early years in 6 v 6 but as the field got bigger he seemed to become disinterested. I know that most probably think I with my Hoosier roots push him in some way towards hoop but he really just likes the nonstop action and the ball is always one pass away. I did not have the AAU thing when I was young and we depended on pick up games and open gyms but AAU keeps my son out of trouble and busy. He loves it and while we both know Tom Crean or even Homer Drew are going to call I know he has a blast playing the game and on Friday and Saturday nights he is with a bunch of great guys having a blast at a fancy hotel spending all my money lol

Fancy hotels in AAU? I remember some real doozies like the one in Hartford that had 5 foot shower heads that everyone thought the sons of T & F and Chikid were used as the test subjects before they installed them.

I do remember that one, 89 a night. We got robbed.

Nhsportsfan comment about multisports athletes is quite true with winnacunnet,:
Ryan Dunn- soccer
Steve cronan-Football
Nick Mcgrail-socccer
Jesse gould-Football and Lacrosse
Harry Knowles-Football and baseball
Jason Busfield-Footbal and Track
Sean Dolan-Football and Lacrosse
Only player thay just plays basketball is sean munson.
And if you look at Pinkerton, Proulx will play Fb and Mathieux will play Baseball in college.

I just listened to the play-by-play of the 4th quarter from Dover/Pinkerton last night. Pretty awesome! The entire BG/Winny game is up too. I suggest starting with the 2nd half of that one when BG made a tremendous comeback, but fell short. Both broadcasts can be downloaded for FREE on...

www.fnlnh.com

It's worth a few minutes of your time to listen to!

Don't forget, the best play-by-play of BOTH the Class I and Class L Championship Games can be heard on Sports Radio WGAM "The Game"(1250AM-Manchester/900AM-Nashua) Saturday starting @ 12:30pm. Also available for FREE online at the above web address.

Hey Pete, Just curious of your thoughts on this and honestly I do not know if this is legal or not so let me know if you think you have an issue with it. With my new found video skills and editing abilities I am going to try to film the Milford game,dload your broadcast and then combine the video with the play by play to have a actual broadcasted and televised version for my archives. Not sure if I need your permission but if I do try this and it works I would gladly get you a copy. Thoughts?