Feb. 24th Games

Nice games scheduled for a Thursday:

D2 - Goffstown at John Stark

Pembroke at Lebanon

D1

Dover at Londonderry - Tough road game for Dover to bounce back from the Central loss on Tuesday night. Dover is #8 while Londonderry is #9, so this game has significant ramifications for potential hosting of a home prelim playoff game. Mark this game down as a toss up.

Salem at Central - #4 at #6. Big implications for getting a coveted top 4 seed. Central scored 67 against Dover on Tuesday. I don't think the Blue Devils defense will let Central score that much. Central must concentrate on limiting Salem's 2nd chance points. If Gallant plays Wickey it will be a tasty big man matchup. Wickey will need much needed support from Brown, Pelletier etc to contend with the Metrex Protein Boys from Salem.

FYI - The start time for the Salem at Central game is 6:30 pm. Check the tip off times for any other games because vacation week plays tricks with scheduled tip off times as I found out last Tuesday. I've enjoyed seeing some nice 2nd halves of basketball this week, but seeing a whole game is nicer.

Rumor has it there might be a "Perfect Storm" converging of Forum members tonight at Central.

I might not look like George Clooney, but I might have to act like him with the wide mix of characters that will invade the Simon Gym. Bring up the anchor and set sail for the Simon seas !!!

So everytime I go to Central I get a bad parking spot. Anyone have a suggestion as to avoiding the long walk I always end up dealing with?

Parking garage under the school of course. Can't show up 5 minutes b/f game time though.

This is a joke, I seem to always want to avoid it since the games I went to were Tyler Roche sold out games lol

Souhegan needs this one to protect playoff positioning - and Kingswood looking for the upset 6:30 start

Central won in a hard fought battle but I'll let T&F do a more stylish recap.

Andy score on Londonderry Dover game

It had more of an"Ocean's Eleven" feel to it.Hard fought is also the 2 words I would use to describe this game.Londonderry 73- Dover 63

Central 47 Salem 40

Salem 10 14 9 7 - 40
Central 10 12 16 9 - 47


No lie. I walk in the gym and see 2 things:

1) No ChiKid

2) Moe B is reffing

So, I'm thinking 1 plus 1 = 1 as in Moe probably removes ChiKid from the gym before the game even starts. We and Moe could only hope to be this lucky.

The first quarter followed suit as Salem POUNDED the offensive glass. On at least 3 offensive possessions Salem had 3 or more shots. The score wound up being tied 10 - 10, but it seemed like Salem was winning because they outshot Central by a substantial margin in the first quarter. Meisser looked like he had his stroke going and Gallant played an excellent first half. Gallant had 12 at half as Wickey was VERY QUIET. I don't even remember Wickey scoring in the first half. Salem carried a 24 - 22 lead into halftime. If you are Central at this point you don't feel bad because Wickey was held to nothing and you are still behind by only 2. If you are a Salem fan at half you feel good because your team is pounding Central on the offensive glass.

Central clamped down on Meisser and Gallant in the 3rd and started hitting the offensive glass themselves. Doc must have lit a fire under the posteriors of Wickey and Brown because they came to play in the 3rd. They notched up their aggressiveness with Brown really being instrumental for Central in hitting the offensive paint. Remember what I have said about Brown when he gets his hands dirty. Both teams went at it very hard in the 4th. Rebounding action was not for the meek. Central answered the toughness call and beat Salem at their own game by punishing the offensive glass to close out this game. Wickey and Brown were huge in the 2nd half. Lafond played great defense and Melendez shot the ball well. Lorenz had a very nice game for Salem as he kept a lot of offensive possessions alive with fierce rebounding put backs and outhustling Little Green players for 50/50 balls.

This has been a big bounce back week for Central with big victories over Salem and Dover. They have made a statement they will be one of the toughest teams to contend with in March. Salem is still tough and I wouldn't want to play them in the playoffs. Gallant is solid, Meisser is a threat anywhere on the court and Lorenz is tough. McLaughlin does an excellent job coaching them.

The only problem I see with both of these teams is lack of depth. Both of them only went 7 deep tonight. Is it enough to win 4 straight games in the playoffs? Salem certainly looked tired in the 4th quarter. They only scored 16 points in the 2nd half.

Who is 44 for Salem?

I found him quite impressive in the first half.

44-13 at one point Seth Cordts 22 Brandon Len 19 Shawn McKenna 16 Devin Gilligan 14...Kohl Meyers for Kingswood shut out in first half (avg 17.5)...Sabers @ Con Val tomorrow

44 is Joe Gallant. He is just solid every time I see him. He is definitely 2nd team all state and could be 1st team when all is said and done. I probably would put him on 1st team all state right now if I had a vote.

A couple of people asked me after the game how the Gallant vs Wickey battle went and I said dead heat even. Gallant had a great first half while Wickey had a great 2nd half in leading his team to the victory.

I agree about Gallant....

Central (and I say this all the time) is usually "a 3rd quarter team". If they are dominant earlier they tend to wane q3
but if they struggle early in 2 then they tend to have an impressive q3.

Gallant impressed me last year (I know I know...that's the last time I've ACTUALLY seen a game - spare me) but I am not suprised he's impressing this season. From what I remember as a Junior, good fundamentals, makes the right play and doesn't try to do too much. Those kind of kids are hard to come by. Not to mention he's a tough defensive presence in the paint, which for Salem is key. They're one of the top 5 defensive teams in the state (#2 I think according to NHSportsPage) and much is thanks to his ability to neutralize the other teams big men.

That said - tough loss for Salem coming off the high of a victory against another Manchester team in Trinity on Sunday morning. They've got a tough finishing stretch with Trinity, Central and BG (with easy Keene/Concord in between tonight and and the season finale). Winning out would move them likely back to the 4 or 5 seed, but sitting at 6 now after this loss I believe. One could argue 6 is better than 4 so to avoid BG until the final...

My people are telling me Wickey has the flu.

You were one of MY PEOPLE tonight and you didn't tell me that.

The forecast looks sketchy tomorrow. The potential for cancellations is there if we get 3 to 6 inches over the day. This would make for an interesting weekend because there are also JV girl's tournaments starting at Pinkerton and Central. Rescheduling of games for Saturday and Sunday would be a good headache.

If a school is on vacation tomorrow, they have more latitude.

If the weather is projected as fine for later, they could have the game.

If the school is not on vacation and they call a snow day... they will most likely have to cancel.

I predict most games held including North Central girls

Tully, is this your prediction or YOUR secret weather person's prediction?

Mine... the Secret Weather Person "goes dark" on vacations

Wow, Londonderry beat Dover 73 - 63. Tough road week for the Green Wave.

OK, Tully, then I'll put my basketball schedule in stone for tomorrow night.

still no Stark v Goffstown score??