Tuesday 1/11 Game Thread

[EBlessNHSP]

Great article by our friend at NH High School Sports about some of the remaining unbeaten teams in the NHIAA.

http://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/nashua/the-land-of-the-unbeaten

On to todays games...(the picks, etc. are just for fun...most these teams I've never seen play just read about and talked about amongst fellow NH HS sports fanatics and forum members)

Trinity @ Central - The marquee matchup of the night (there's a couple but this is the best IMO). Coaching sub-plots, player transfers, inter-city rivalry. This game has it all. And to top it off these might be the two best teams in Div I. I'm venturing out of the house, leaving wife, dog and child to hunt and gather for themselves to catch this tilt. Wouldn't be surprised to see half the forum regulars there too...

The Pick: Central by a point, maybe two. Could come down to the last possession.

Manchester West @ Bishop Guertin - Guertin seem to really be struggling without Green in the lineup. They're a team that's needed to redefine themselves without one of their top playmakers. By the second half of last weeks Alvirne game they seemed to do that. I'm expecting a pretty solid win for them, but stranger things have happened (see @ Nashua South).

The Pick: Bishop Guertin by 10.

Pelham @ Campbell: Coming off their first loss of the year the Pythons will be looking to take it out on somebody. When they travel to Litchfield tonight, they'll be facing a team that lost by only 5 to a very tough Raymond team and has solid wins over Somersworth and Farmington. Also coming off a loss to Bow, Campbell will be looking to re-establish home court dominance. I don't think they have enough to handle Spirou and Co. though.

The Pick: Pelham by 8.

Manchester Memorial @ Londonderry - Unbeaten Memrorial will travel down 93 for the quick commute to Londonderry to see if they can remain loss-less. Londonderry is a good home team...but not good enough against this Crusader squad that's starting to gel. If/when they completely gelify, they are going to be one scary scary bowl of jello.

The Pick: Memorial by 12.

Portsmouth @ Milford - The Division II marquee matchup of the night pits 4-0 Milford vs. 3-1 Portsmouth. The Clippers were the last team to knock off Milford about a year ago. Milford then beat Portsmouth in a hotly contested game in the Semifinals en route to their 2010 State Title. The difference since then? Milford remains largely intact from their title run. Gone for the Clips are their heart and soul from last year Mike Barton and one Kyle Dicesare (for another month or so). Portsmouth will not come to Milford and lay down though, Coach Mulvey will have these kids prepared. Milford playing their 3rd top 10 team in a row (they go to Hanover later in the week for their 4th) is in the middle of one of the toughest schedules of their season. Games have been close, but the Milford kids and their experience has pulled them through each of the last couple of contests.

The Pick: Milford...by 2.

Other good matchups

Spaulding @ Nashua South - Can they rebound after the Salem loss? I think so, even with the long drive.
Pinkerton @ Salem - Nice rivalry game, Salem is quietly having a nice 3-1 opening start to their season. I like the Blue Devils (very hard for me to say that being a Tarheel fan).
Merrimack @ Timberlane - Could 0-4 Timby steal one here? Not sure if Floras is playing, it's possible!
Exeter @ Alvirne - Exeter is 2-2, Broncos desperately need a win at home. Broncos win.
Pembroke @ Kingswood - Kingswood has nice wins over Laconia and Plymouth. Chance to get a win at home, but Pembroke has looked strong on their way to 3-1.

Enjoy the games!

[Tuesday and Friday]

Wow, venturing out of the house? Is Mrs Asst. fully informed of this development?

[EBlessNHSP]

It was approved until she checked the weather. Then like the rest of the yahoo's I was tasked to stock to fridge and pantry in case the impeding storm shuts down NH for the next week. That said - I will be live tweeting scores as usual tonight - http://twitter.com/nhsportsforum

Let the snowflakes fly.

[Tuesday and Friday]

Well, the weathermen have gotten the last 2 storms wrong and they say things come in 3's. I don't know why they don't just forecast a dusting to 24 inches of snow for each storm. This way they'll be meterologically covered.

[EBlessNHSP]

I know...with the wind there will probably only be a few inches when all is said and done.

[Tulliver]

Well, the weathermen have gotten the last 2 storms wrong and they say things come in 3's. I don't know why they don't just forecast a dusting to 24 inches of snow for each storm. This way they'll be meterologically covered.

I needed this laugh!!

Good idea T&F

[tarrier]

I'm very much looking forward to attending this game. I've seen Central a few times already this year...vs. BG in the season opener and then a couple times in the QCIBT. They look very strong with Wickey, LaCount, Junior Brown and Joe Stisser leading the way. The bench is a little thin however. Trinity is T-A-L-L tall with the imposing front line of 6'7" Mabor Gabriel, 6'10" Silvere Aluko and 6'7'" Andrew Lauderdale...and those guys are all underclassmen! Zack Stevens appears to be recovering quite nicely from his knee injury late last season...and I liked Wol Majong as a shooter last year for Central, but I'm not sold on him being a point guard.

[GNG]

looking forward to your recap of the game Pete.T@F sometimes gets caught up with all the personalities at the game and his mind wanders{especially in a low scoring affair},and we get shoddy reports from him.My call central 52 trinity 44.

[Guest]

A little suprised I got home from the Milford game to see nothing about the others. Any news from the other games fella's?

[Thomas]

Devin Gilligan 24 points and 15 rebounds Seth Cordts 14 points 10 in the 4th quarter....Brandon Len adds 10.

[Tuesday and Friday]

Trinity - 11 4 16 14 - 45
Central - 6 13 8 9 - 38


I tried to really stay away from socializing and stay on task to concentrate on the game so I can try to make a game report GNG will be proud of. I tried really hard, but it was 11 - 6 at the end of the 1st period. Majong and Gabriel played well in the opening stanza for Trinity. Both teams had llllloooooonnnnnggggg possessions . When they did shoot the rims took some abuse . Wickey had a nice 2nd period to help the Little Green take a 4 point lead at halftime. Wickey scored inside and out, rebounded and made a couple of nice blocks. With 2 of the 4 periods for team scoring under 10 points my under prediction was looking good . Aluko and Stevens did very nicely for Trinity in the 3rd as the Pioneers doubled up Central 16 - 8. Something became very apparent during the 3rd stanza. Gabe LaCount had ZERO points and he either wasn't looking to do anything or Hunter Viscarello had LaCount trapped on Viscarello Island. The game remained tight for the first 4 minutes of the 4th quarter, but then Zach Stevens hit a couple of 3's to give Trinity their largest lead of the game at 39 to 32. This 7 point lead felt like 17 with the way points were a precious commodity in the Simon Gym. Wickey made a couple of nice moves to bring Central tighter, but Trinity held on with some Aluko FTs and a Gabriel finish.

John Wickey was the best player on the floor tonight. He looked very good and had to battle the likes of Aluko and Lauderdale. The story of this game was ZERO points for LaCount. Central can't win a big game when he doesn't score. I know Viscarello is a clamp down defender, but ZERO points for LaCount with only a couple of shots in 32 minutes. Something was going on there. Doc has 5 guys who can play guard, but I think he's still trying to figure out who can do what and who can fit into his system. Zach Stevens looked nice with his release. He looks more like Zach Stevens before the knee injury. Lauderdale and Aluko kept a lot of offensive possessions alive with put backs and rebounds. This Trinity team is a lot like MacGyver's tool box. They have a little bit of everything. They don't wow you with top heavy talent, but they have just enough shooting to go along with some punishing rebounding and in your shirt defense. They have a lot of pieces that can fit together.

It was 100 degrees in the Central gym tonight. Good thing Doc eschewed the mock turtleneck for a polo shirt. Of course it was black.

Tully, I win the bet. The over/under on team scoring periods in double digits was 6. I took under and the total double digit periods was 4 .

I sent one of my associates a text early in the 2nd half and used the comment of ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz to describe my feeling at the lack of offense. The last 4 minutes of the game was exciting, but boy, did the Simon gym rims take some punishment tonight.

Wickey was the leading scorer with 23. Stevens finished with 15.

[chicagokid43]

I am pleased to still be considered a T and F associate.

[Tuesday and Friday]

Geez GNG, with your prediction of 52 to 44 you must have thought this was going to be a game from the 1990s.

[Tuesday and Friday]

Salem with a mild upset of Pinkerton 54 to 50.

2 upsets in the 2 Memorial - Londonderry games: The Londonderry boys upset Memorial 55 to 47. The Memorial girls upset Londonderry 53 to 35. Of these 2 games the girls score really surprises me. I would've had the Lancer-ettes favored by at least 15 over the Lady Crusaders before this game. The fact that Memorial won surprises me. The fact they won by 18 and held Londonderry to 35 almost shocks me. This is one of those games in D1 girls that is a stand up and take notice game.

[Tuesday and Friday]

Anything from West at BG? Or is GNG at some pub yucking it up with the Cardinal faithful?

And nice to see ChiKid is still considered an associate.

[SCHoops]

Girls
Oyster River 54 / Coe Brown 43

Danielle Walczak put in 32 points

[abball]

Assistant the Girls game was home for Alvirne not boys just a correction, but no suprise they got blown out 73 to 54 the struggles continue.
Other scores:
North over Keene 59-47
Spaudling over nashua south 48-28(ouch 28 points in a game!!!!!)
Merrimack over Timby 56-48

[Tuesday and Friday]

So, South scores 64 in defeating BG last week and less than a week later they score 28 in losing by 20 to Spaulding.

Go figure.

[Tuesday and Friday]

The box score for the Trinity - Central game on the NH Sportspage has Lafond and Majong listed for both Trinity and Central. That makes sense with the transfer pipeline between these 2 schools the last few years

[abball]

T&F doesnt make sense to me how do you score 28 points in a highschool game? thats awful

[Tulliver]

We're all one city!!!!! Share and share alike.
New queen city motto

[Tuesday and Friday]

Especially after they scored a respectable 64 against BG.

abball, you should have been at the Trinity - Central game. I thought the final score was going to be like 35 to 33. All due respect to GNG, but my mind did wander quite a bit in this game. The student body sections kept me awake with their cutting edge cheers. The best one of the night might have been when Wickey was at the line and the Pioneer section chanted, "Hometown Hero" "Hometown Hero."

This was pretty clever on the part of the Pioneer faithful.

[abball]

i just have never seen that girls maybe yes, never a boys.
And the Trinity fans usually have a good student section and their chants are great. Sometimes they get a little out of line i remember a few years ago when the face BG the Trinity fans shouted stuff that didnt go over well and they were banned from going to the next game when they where facing a very good Londonderry team at the time with Griffin.

[chicagokid43]

Merrimack fans had one of the best chants all time in the tyler Roche era. I cannot repeat it because it was way out of line.. but the most creative one ever... ever! lol

[Tuesday and Friday]

OK, I stand corrected. One of my associates just informed me the Trinity student body chanted:

"HOMETOWN ZERO" "HOMETOWN ZERO"

When Wickey was at the FT line. Borderline questionable??

I must have been dozing off due to the lack of offense and my hearing was dulled.

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