Stark then Giorgio's

I am thinking it is time for some of the outter banks of the basketball world from BG and AUBURN to come spend a Monday night watching Stark and Milford in one of the smallest most tightly confined basketball gyms in NH. Milford vs Stark at 6:30 on a Monday night. Maybe a round of drinks at our fine upscale establishment Giorgio's of Milford to discuss Hoops and eventual Hardware. Let's see if the love for the game can draw a crowd from the big city. How about this.... CHIKID WILL PICK UP THE BILL!

Removed

- The Assistant

going to visit my 97 year old nana.

Removed. Reading this post alone it was not clear it was a joke and does not promote conversation we're looking for on this forum.

- The Assistant

You guys need to lighten up it was meant as a joke... geesh Mr Assistant thinks I should lighten up and I do and you guys do not even recognize it.. lol

No problem GNG, I will make sure to post a great recap...

No i told you to relax. Basically let's try not to post thingsthat might be misconstrued or taken out of context.

Might want to remove the post asking wether or not the officiating will be acceptable also... Not sure if that was a joke either.

To help further on my post if I have lol which means laugh out loud chances are I am joking. I use to laugh out loud at non funny things but the Dr visits helped me get those unbridled emotions under control. THIS IS A JOKE ALSO!!!

Fair enough.

Wow, even though the scoring in NH High School hoops is low the invites and tab pickup is high. This season is shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory. Darn the lids on most of the basketball hoops because the drinking establishments have no lids on them.

We'll see how the work/personal schedule pan out. Would I have to watch the game in the Milford cafeteria?

Doubt it like scoring in NH Milford attendance seems to be down some this year. May be partly because we have had some weak teams be the home games but I doubt Stark will be real bad. If you let me know though I will gladly have the Mrs Save you a seat. I know you would not want to sit next to anyone else..

Milford won 72-59. This had the potential to be an upset, shocking that the final was that low considering the halftime score was 47-37 Milford (or something similar like that) Holder opened up with two dunks in the first few minutes. At the end of the first the score was 24-21 Milford can't say there was a lack of D being played, it was more just better offense/shooting. Stark shot the lights out in the first half kind of shocked me they were down 10 at half with the way they were shooting. Stark Sophomore Nick Lloyd shot very well and Greg Leblond shot pretty well, he hit one in the third that was from about the parking lot. Stark played an extended 2-1-2/3-2 at picking them up right at half court, thought they should've trapped out of it more but didn't but it turned Milford over a lot anyway, but when Milford was patient they and broke it down they were getting any shot they wanted in spurts passed very well and got great looks, after a few passes they also were getting to the basket very easily but struggled finishing in the first half. Mike O finished with 28 clearly has broken out of his slump. In the first half he shot very well and it carried throughout the game, 2nd half he got to the hoop very well. It's hard to say Holder struggled on Offense since he finished with 24 points but he missed a few bunnies and his jumper wasn't great tonight or he could've probably put up more. Leblond finshed with 19 for stark and Lloyd finished with 13. They also had a big man Grattan who is listed as 6'8 who is a sophomore who has a lot of upside he was all over the boards struggled finishing a little had some nice drop steps towards the baseline struggled when making a move to the middle, but with work on his footwork as a lot of potential. Stark narrowed the game to 5 with 4 minutes left but couldn't complete the comeback, had they kept shooting as well as they did in the first half this game might still be going on. With that said Milford bigs still need to hit the boards, Nelson played pretty well on offense, but he tried to out jump Grattan but the kids 6'8 so it's kind of tough, Milford also turned it over a little too much, but a nice game to watch on a Monday.

Mitchell also probably finished with close to 10 assist or at least it seemed it, he also was a spark defensively in the 3rd when milford stretched the lead to about 14 was really impressed with his D tonight.

12 assist and one blown layup lol, Mitchell had a nice night passing the ball. Side note to this game was the point guard for Stark, what a player. Not sure of his name or grade or anything but tons of potential. He has good handles,passes the ball well and seemed very comfortable going to the hoop. Stark also did a nice job screening for him and getting him in open space. I was very impressed with him. Milford seemed to not be able to shake Stark, they played very well and could be the team that upsets one of the top teams down the road come playoff time.

Lol missed lap-ups seemed to be theme at least in the first half for Milford, they tried to make everything way to difficult rather than just putting it in, I understand altering your layup if it's contested but there were quite a few that the kids tried to make look nice rather than just putting it in.

PG for Stark was outstanding - only a Sophomore. Few turnovers, very confident, can shoot and set his teammates up well and jet quick. Leblond seems to love the Milford gym, plays well there. The 3 he hit in front of the Milford bench was ridiculous - like he was playing HORSE.
Would love to know total turnovers for each team - got sloppy often.

I thought that was one of the best games I have seen this year. I know Milford was able to turn over Star a little with the traps early but I thought the game was very well played. Nice to see teams press a little and extend instead of playing what I like to call WNBA Zone.. great game I thought.

Quite a few turnovers, forced and unforced in the 1st and 4th qtrs both ways

BigMan44, I agree with you with regards to Grattan of John Stark. I saw him in the JS at Pembroke game in early January and there was about a 3 minute span where Pembroke had a difficult time keeping off the boards and scoring column. It seemed like he lacked some stamina to play more than a couple of minute stretch. Maybe, he's a little stronger to play more now. He does have some upside because of his soft hands and good footwork around the hoop. He definitely will be a player to watch.

Yeah his stamina didn't seem to be that big of a problem played decent minutes, certainly could be another thing that if he could get in better shape it would help his game because as he was in for longer stretches his game got more sloppy but kids got ton of upside. With him and some of the young guards Stark has they could/should be a very strong team for the next few years.

I'm curious how tomorrow's game for Milford will go. They have bedford, who has tons of bigs but very limited guard play (in comparison to Milford) Looking at it you think Milford would be able to run all over them but Milford is getting dominated in the boards so if Bedford can break the press and just get up shots they'll probably have a lot of second chance oppurtunities/easy put backs, this game intrigues me a lot more than it did earlier in the season. Assuming they'll play zone if Milford struggles with the jumper who knows what might happen. Not really sure what to expect in this one Milford could come out and run all over them always have that potential. I could be looking into it too much but who knows.

This game would not worry me if it were not for being game two this week. I mean I know these boys are not old like the Celtics but it does not help them to play back to back. The game will be a contrast of styles. Obviously Bedford will play zone or at lest try to pack it in. Milford will press and trap and try to run. Question will be do they have the legs to play that style all night? Will they have the legs to hit jumpers if it turns to a half court game and can they keep Bedford off the boards? Interesting game, should be a interesting match up.