Tonight's D2 Semi-Finals!

Updating LIVE from Lundholm Gymnasium!

Soooooo I might be a little anxious for these games. (Or I might have gotten a lousy seat last year being 2 hours early. One or the other.)

I'm not surprised one bit that Souhegan is in the Semis, with the talent on that team. I don't think Portsmouth can really take anything from the game back on 2/9. Souhegan was without Gilligan, playing for a 2nd straight night, and just seemed out of sync. I see this one going right down to the wire, but (shocker) I see Portsmouth pulling it out.

Also not a shocker, I'm taking Milford in the nightcap. Hopefully I can stay for all of that one, but I'm producing Greg and the Morning Buzz first thing in the AM (4am wake up), so ChiKid, tell them to make it a blow out so I can get to bed ;-)

Also, come on over and say hi if you're at the games!

gotta love the animals attitude.

I'm going with Portsmouth in a tight one also. How healthy will Gilligan be? DiCesare and Co. will be too much for the Sabers. Mulvey will correct any Clipper incorrections at halftime.

In the nightcap (like using this word when GNG is lurking) I'll go with.....


.....Milford. Spirou will probably get his usual 18 to 25, but will he get enough scoring support for the Pythons to pull the upset on the Spartans. Will I brave my purist basketball mind and venture into the land of the Spartan faithful where unpure things have been known to take place?

We shall see.

Nice picture of the 1380 Boys getting prepped for the broadcast. Maybe they are at the Holy Grail for their pre game.

Any scores or updates? Suprised no one has said anything so far.

Milford by 4 or 6...

Just ended about 10 mins ago

Portsmouth won a rugby/basketball hybrid 35-31. Refs REALLY let them play, though it was consistent, which is relaly all you can ask.

Thought Souhegan had it wrapped up when they went up 31-30 on a Seth Cordts Free Throw, but then this happened...

http://soundcloud.com/justin-mcisaac/walker-for-3

Portsmouth will try to slay the undefeated Milford Dragon on Saturday afternoon. A classic matchup between the counter-puncher and the KO artist.

Milford- 7 12 14 17- 50

Pelham- 8 7 10 21- 46


UGLY. Well that covers the first half...Kidding i'll elaborate a little more. It's known that often teams that rely heavily on the jumpshot struggle and it showed in the first half, luckily for Milford they're not solely reliant on the 3/jumpshot and can get to the rim. Pelham again started off with Spirou guarding Mikey, didn't really bother Mikey, although Mikey didn't drive as much as normal so maybe it did a little but nothing too noticeable. Other than that neither Milford nor Pelham could've thrown a beach ball into the ocean if they were standing in a boat. Milford really wasn't getting great shots, they were settling for first pass shots for the most part. Pelham got good looks from deep but were really struggling, and when they were able to get by there defender they were met by Kyle Nelson who had about 5 blocks in the first half and probably finished with 8 or so, not to mention altering a lot more. Nelson was huge in my mind his D was what kept them in this game if I had to pick he might even be my player of the game. I say it kept Milford in the game because Milford's on-ball defense wasn't great tonight at least not in the first half, had Nelson not been patrolling the middle they would've had quite a few easy buckets. Pelham had Milford where you'd want them really struggling shooting not really attacking, and settling for quick shots, but they had there troubles too and I think they may have shot worse than Milford in the first half. You'd think they'd want to get the ball into Spirou's hands as much as possible but he didn't have a lot of touches in the first half or really even the game. I found it very odd that Logan Barlow was consistently matched up with someone far smaller than himself everytime I thought Pelham should've attacked that more as well as Milford on the other end posting him up. Holder was a non-factor on offense in this half really struggled but he's always working hard on D, wouldn't say O'loughlin struggled as he contributed a little on offense this half but not much and again Mitchell to the rescue in a half for Milford I believe he had 8 first half points. I thought he might explode this game with no one else really scoring for Milford. Both O'loughlin and Holder were in foul trouble pretty much the entire game from the 2nd quarter on this may have contributed to that Coach got huge minutes out of Richie Moore. His offense is not there but he's all over the place on D I thought he played well throughout the game especially since he hadn't played at all last game.

The 2nd half was much better than the first. Milford started moving the ball a little better, and getting penetration. Mike O started getting better looks on his own but they also ran the same set a few times which got him wide open looks, he finished with 20. Holder didn't look for his offense to much this half but when he did he made the best of his oppurtunities. Mitchell was more of the floor general this half although he did hit 4 maybe even 6 freethrows in last minute or 2, he finished with 12 points yet another great game from Mitchell in all aspects of the game. Nelson also chipped in about 6 or so points in this half and not all of them were someone setting him up he created a little for himself which is great for Milford. Again Spirou just didn't get enough touches credit the defense I guess but they could've tried running some double screens or something to get him open and the ball in his hands he only finished with 7pts. Milford had stretched the lead to about 8 which was the biggest lead for each team I believe, but Dean Joyce hit a three before the third was over and then another to start the quarter accompanied by a few freethrows and Pelham had the game close again. Everytime Milford would stretch the lead to 6 or 8 they were never able to take the game away as they normally do. Timely shots, layups and freethrows by Brett Bailey, Defranzo among others kept this game close and at one time Pelham had it to a 2 point game with about a minute to go. But Milford stayed calm got a nice drive and dish from Holder to Mike O as well as some free-throws from Mitchell, along with a steal by Holder on an inbound pass, allowed Milford to escape with the victory.

Other Thoughts, Had Spirou got more touches they could very well be playing in the finals. Milford can't play like they did in the first half against Portsmouth, but that should be a great championship. Kyle Nelson could've and should've dominated this division, he showed glimpses of some very solid offense and I can't stress how much his shot blocking meant, but had Milford had a low post option in there offense they may have ran away with this one despite the poor shooting.

Since when does D2 playoff games turn into2 bulldozers mashing against each other in a Nebraska corn field?

The following 2 half time scores are the half time scores, not end of the 1st quarter scores:

Portsmouth 18 Souhegan 14

Milford 19 Pelham 15

So much for me telling a bunch of my D1 friends to attend the D2 Semis becuse you'll see scores in the 50s and 60s.

Souhegan - 8 6 8 9 - 31
Ports - 12 6 8 9 - 35

With 2;30 left Cordts drew a big charge call on DiCesare. Cordts then hit a FT to give Souhegan the lead at 31 - 30 with 2:02 remaining. There was no scoring for the next 1:40 until Walker hit the game winning 3 with 20 seconds left. Walker was huge controlling the tempo for Portsmouth and scoring 19 points. He had a fast start also in the first quarter which got the Clippers settled into the game nicely.

There was 8 seconds left and Souhegan took a TO with an inbounding coming up on their offensive baseline. They came out of the TO with Cordts inbounding the ball. I'm thinking some type of set double screen play to get Cordts a good look. He had been the best player for Souhegan all night. Instead they had Len take a semi desperation 3 attempt at the top of the key. Still wondering about this choice for the Sabers. Gilligan never got on track the whole night and finished with 6 points. It seemed he tried to force too much to the hoop and might have been better off to attempt some more medium range jumpers.

Milford strangely played slow down and methodical on offense in the first half. At halftime if I'm a Milford fan I say we didn't play that well and we still have the lead. If I'm a Pelham fan at half I say Spirou only has 4 points and we're only down 4 points. Milford looked like MILFORD in the 3rd period fast breaking, running and gunning. They then slowed down and allowed Pelham to make a come back and make it close and interesting in the 4th period. Pelham can't win a game like this with Spirou only scoring 7 points. O'Loughlin gets the player of the game. He scored 20 points and played great defense on Spirou holding him to 7 points. Mitchell went 7 - 8 from the FT line with some big charity stripe points in the 4th. Holder had 6 points and was never in synch offensively.

Now, we have a match up a lot of people have been waiting for in the championship. Will Mulvey have something up his Clipper sleeve to surprise Milford at 1 pm on Saturday? Is Milford due for a whole MILFORD game on Saturday?

So which is it Mr T and F? 1pm or 2:30.... hello...

I had the pleasure of meeting the Sports Animal, Justin M., tonight. Nice call on the huge Walker 3. It sounds so much better when my team buries a 3 as opposed to getting buried by a 3.

The story I'm about to tell you is 100% true. I'm in my car in the UNH parking lot near one of the exits getting ready to leave when I see this car riding towards the exit. I then notice the car isn't going for the exit, but for the curbed island to the left of the exit. The car brakes just in time avoiding hitting the curbed island. As the car backs up I notice the driver:

The one and only............ MM Sr. from Milford.

He finally finds the exit and leaves the parking lot. I call him and say. "What the heck on almost going into the island" and he says, "Boy, I almost hit that, didn't I?"

So, MM Sr is unscathed and the car is safe. That's all well and good, but......

.... If ChiKid questions referees calls from 20 to 84 feet away in the stands does it make you wonder I now have confirmed visual evidence as a referee he has questionable eye sight when leaving a totally empty parking lot?

This is from the NHIAA web site. Focus your parking lot exit eyes on the D2 boy's tournament there ChiKid.


Milford (1) vs Portsmouth (3)

Site: University of New Hampshire
Date: Saturday, March 19, 2011
Time: 1:00 p.m.

Unbelievable, Two great D2 games with players playing their last game and leaving it all on the floor and we are talking about the parking lot? Unbelievable..

Can we please move this post to the Bleacher section. I am sick of taking away from the kids! lol

I have a good hunch a certain percentage of Forum regulars will enjoy my parking lot story. I know myself, as a referee, find this story to be very funny and quite revealing.

Yes, it was nice to see a lot of seniors tonight leave it all on the floor at UNH.

step closer. This game was nerve racking, every time I thought Milford was going to put Pelham away they came back. Tough shooting night by both teams. Big man pretty much covered it. BigMan has a future in journalism.

Can't wait for Saturday, Go Milford! Key stats Mike Mitchell 7-8 from line. Mike O'Loughlin 20pts, 5 Stls., Kyle Nelson 5 blocks, he had more than that it seemed. He was a beast down low defensively. Richie Moore 3 pts, 2 rebs, an assist in 13 Min. Pelham Anthony Spirou 7 pts, Stephen Spirou 7pts, Defranzo 8-10 from line 0-6 from field.

I agree T&F, slowing the pace was very odd for Milford, and it allowed Pelham to stay/get back in the game. They'll need to play speed up the tempo against Portsmouth or they may struggle again.

Believe me BigMan, I have 100% complete auditory evidence of the following said by the Milford faithful about the Spartan's methodical offensive pace:

"What are we doing."

"Since when did we become a half court team."

"Go Go Go."

"Swing the ball, speed it up."

On the way home from Durham Tuesday night I am on the phone with T@F. We were discussing how ugly the Trinity - Alvirne game was. The conversation went something like this. "Rem I don't know much, but Wednesday night you will see basketball that will remind you of the ABA. Both games will high scoring, up tempo hoops."

I am starting to wonder if this guy is shirt worthy.

I am starting to wonder if this guy should be invited to any post game festivities that might occur. We like our guests to be able to bring a little sports knowledge to the table.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY. EVERYBODY

Wow, GNG, it looks like you have ChiKid's back with support and have left my back bare with no support and NO SHIRT.

What is the over/under for green libations for Mr GNG today?

Although I have the absolute BEST St patricks day story from my younger years. Can't tell you about on this forum. Maybe this weekend, if Your out and about.

I had my middle name legally changed to "Out and About" a while ago.