Jan. 24th Games

Boys:

Memorial at BG:

The Crusaders visit the C-Dome as a team on the rise. They have 2 good victories in their pocket with wins over Spaulding and South in their last two games. Their backcourt is still a work in progress as freshman Oumaru Kante, though being athletically gifted, is still is a work in progress learning how to be a point guard in D1. He showed some nice flashes in the Spaulding game of growing that were interupted with mental gaffes. I haven't seen any grey hairs lately on Coach Fitzpatrick's head, so the long time coach seems to be accepting the roulette wheel situation of a freshman point guard. 6'4 Tong Akat is back from a foot injury for the Crusaders. He gives them much needed size and scoring. Although this rather large junior seems to be more comfortable offensively in the 10 to 20 foot offensive zone as opposed to the down and dirty 1 to 9 foot area, he does give Memorial something they did not have at the start of the season. Mike Torres had a nice game against Spaulding with 19 points. He plays larger than his 6'1 size and has a nice quick slash to the hole which is difficult to defend.

For BG they are firmly on the road known as Drama Drive. Migs keeps on putting Smoother Sailing Street into his coaching GPS, but the voice keeps coming back loudly to him saying: RECACULATE. BG will certainly throw all their full court guard pressure at the work in progress Memorial back court to get turnovers and extra baskets. How Memorial's back court handles this pressure will be the key to the game. If BG can get extra possessions off turnovers and turn them into extra points then this will help them get the W. If Memorial handles the pressure and limits their turnovers then this game will go down to the wire and the ending might be fit for the guy named "Mayhem" on the All State TV commercials.


Pinkerton at Spaulding:

Big road trip for the Astros to keep on top of the D1 standings. I'm thinking Spaulding has to be better than the team I saw last Friday at Memorial. A nice home game for the Red Raiders might be what the basketball doctor could prescribe to heal the Red Raider basketball soul. A pretty good battle will ensue with Patrikis going against Paradis. The Pinkerton back court of Light and Colbert and company has been playing well so far this season. This is definitely a pick em game and one of those games that goes a long way to determining final seeds in March.



Girls:

Keene at Central:

Keene is currently tied for 9th. Central is tied for 7th. This could be a big game for tie breakers to determine which team gets an all important home prelim playoff game. One would think Coach Wenners will have his girls ready to play in this one. This along with the long bus ride for the Lady Blackbirds might translate into an important victory for the Central squad.


BG at Memorial: This is the marquee matchup of the evening. They are the only 2 undefeated teams left in D1 girls at 8 - 0. BG's record has a little more of a foundation to it as the Cardinals have 2 big victories over Londonderry and Winny. Memorial is undefeated the combined record of the teams they have beaten is 17 - 52, which makes the foundation of their record a slow drying wet concrete. The record of BG's 8 teams they have beaten is 30 - 36. This game will come down to 2 matchups. The point guard matchup is a good one with BG's Jamie Sherburne going against Memorial's Allie Hartford. At center you probably have the 2 best players in D1 going head to head in Meghan Green and Amra Elezovic. This is a fascinating matchup to see who will have the upper hand and who can stay out of foul trouble more. Green's game is firmly entrenched closer to the basket while Elezovic's game features a mix of inside and outside. This center matchup could go a long way in determing the POY for D1 girls. If I'm Memorial I try to draw Green away from the hoop as much as possible to give Peace Kabari a chance to slash to the hoop and get some offensive put backs. In order for Memorial to win this game Kabari will have to score a healthy amount of points in double digits. If Kabari is held down in the scoring column by fellow freshman Megan Kerutis of Bg then the Cardinals will be the last standing undefeated team in D1 girls at the end of this game.

BG Boys won 54-50 - I'm sure GNG will post details as my wife says he was there...

Final BG girls 47 Memorial 44.

Memorial had the lead the majority of the game, but Nikki Hayner hit a couple big shots near the end to help BG stay undefeated.

I heard, that if you like turnovers, whether they be apple or blueberry, then the BG gym was the place you could get them tonight.

They were in abundance from both BG and Memorial boys tonight.

UGLY, ugly contest. I thought I was watching an aau game.

On the bright side, I am sure Migs would rather win ugly then lose pretty. As hard as it's been for BG to get victories this season,any win is a good win.

I counted 27 turnovers for BG. Sloppy passes,trying to make spectacular passes that just aren't there. Cooper Paul was out, word is MONO. That kid hasn't caught a break in his 4 years at BG. JOE Mac, had 15- 17 points, same with Chartrand who had his best game of the year. Lunn chipped in with 9-11 points. Lunn was also the leading rebounder. Corbin played well off the bench .

Memorial only has 10 players, and it seems like they all CHUCK it from the 3 point line. They hit 7, problem is they probably took 30 shots. They didn't have as many turnovers as BG, but they weren't far behind.

The crowd was SPARSE. I counted 15 BG kids in the student section. Sad.

The Cardinals need to take better care of the rock, and stop making stupid fouls. Twice in this game a BG player fouled a kid while he was taking a 3.


This is the type of game you would expect to see at the start of the season, not almost halfway thru.

Up next Trinity at Manchester. I am positive that gym will be packed.

North beat londonderry by only 2.

Central and Merrimack both rolled.

Salem won.

BG 12 6 12 17 - 47
Mem 16 10 11 7 - 44


Memorial did a nice job of getting BG to play the Crusader game in the first half. Memorial was very happy to stay in half court sets and not push the ball too much and stay away from the Bg fast break game. Memorial did a great job of nullifying Green in the first half by limiting her to 2 points. There was always a Crusader body or two on Green any time a BG shot went up. Elezovic had a nice first half with 11 points. Allie Hartford had a very good 2nd quarter pumping in around 7 points.

Even though Green started scoring in the 3rd period Memorial did a fine job of limiting her touches and 2nd chances. Memorial had their biggest lead at 36 to 26 with just under 2 minutes left in the 3rd. They had a couple of chances to push the lead to 12, but couldn't convert. Bg took adfvantage and cut the deficit to 7 to set up a nip and tuck 4th period.

You could sense the lack of depth starting to hurt Memorial in the 4th period as passes weren't as crisp as the first 3 periods and shots started rolling around the rim and agonizingly out. Peace Kabari had a key drive and 2 put backs that rimmed out that really hurt the Crusaders. Elezovic also had about 3 drives that rimmed out and a few short range jumpers that fell short due to tired legs. BG took advantage of this as Green finally started getting it going in the paint.

I said to the person sitting next to me that Nikki Hayner looked so good missing all her shots in the game and I was totally honest. It looked like Hayner's shot was just off all night. Well, Hayner came up huge with a 3 and a 2 to help give Bg it's first lead in a long time in the final couple of minutes. With BG holding a 45 to 44 lead and having the ball with 26 seconds left Memorial made a fatal strategic decision in playing defense too long and not fouling when having 4 team fouls. Memorial waited to make the 3 fouls until there was 10 seconds left. Sherburne was finally fouled with 4.4 seconds to go to get to bonus foul #7. She sank both FTs and Elezovic had a desperate 2 attempt at the buzzer. The 16 seconds Memorial waited to make their 5th team foul was costly. It wasn't very good time management.

POY argument between Green and Elezovic? Still up in the air. There is a lot of basketball to be played, but these 2 girls will be the top 2 vote receivers for it.

Memorial's legs were just too tired in the 2nd half. Both teams only go 1 to 2 deep on their benches, but BG seemed fresher for the pivotal last 4 minutes. Freshman Megan Kerutis did a good job defensively on Elezovic. Even though Elezovic probably had around 20 Kerutis bodied up the Bosnian and made her work for every thing she got in this game. Kerutis wore on Elezovic and it can't be under stated how Elezovic's shots fell short in the pivotal 4th period. This was a big key to the game.

Where do these 2 teams go from here? BG does play a couple of tough ones in the next couple of weeks including Pinkerton and Dover, but their path to an undefeated season is easier now with Winny, Londonderry and Memorial out of the way. Memorial has their most difficult part of their schedule coming up. In their next 5 games they play: Pinkerton, Dover, North, Winny and Londonderry. No rest for the weary as far as the Crusaders go.

Mild upset in D2 boys with Merry Valley beating Pembroke 60 to 53.

A couple of upsets tonight in D-2. Portsmouth was handed their first loss, falling to local rival St. Thomas 54-47. The Clippers started cold, missing several layups, and the Saints kept Portsmouth from getting any offensive boards. A 3-pointer to open the 2nd quarter put STA ahead 19-6. PHS rallied to pull close (might have tied it), but STA held the lead 27-20 at the half. STA led 40-35 at the end of 3. A Portsmouth hoop at the beginning of the 4th got them to within 3, but they never got closer the rest of the way. After going 20-for-25 from the foul line in their last game, I would guess that PHS shot under 50% tonight. Credit goes to STA for their start-to-finish hustle, led by Andrew Kahr and Jon Nartiff. Portsmouth was missing Billy Lane (sick), and no one really stood out for the Clippers. Disclaimer: I don't take notes during the game, so some of the details may not be 100% accurate.

I also noticed that Pembroke was upset by Merrimack Valley.

Remaing unbeaten teams statewide are Hanover (D-2), Berlin (D-3), and Newmarket and Moultonborough (D-4). The 2 D-4 teams do not play each other, so they could both run the table.

T & F, the Nashua Telegraph article stated that Elezovich missed 17 of her last 18 field goal attempts. You were at the game, is that really what happened?

It looks like the NHIAA website has the score wrong. The Concord Monitor that appeared on my doorstep this morning is reporting in an article that Pembroke Boys won 63-50 over MV.

Saw Windham at John Stark - great game - back and forth and down to the wire with Windham winning 57-55. John Stark has a 6'8" kid listed on their roster and is a huge presence in the paint, had trouble with layups and had one attempt at a dunk that was not pretty, but with some work he could be a much better player.

NHhoops, I wasn't counting Elozovic's missed shots, but she did miss an awful lot of them in the last 12 minutes of the game.

The problem with Memorial is that Elozovic has to do an incredible amount of things for this team to be successful. She is a point center. Hartford is the Crusader point guard, but Elozovic helps her take the ball up against pressure.Memorial played zone for the 2nd half and Elozovic had to contend with Green all night defensively and putting a body on her to limit the BG offensive rebounds. She also played 32 minutes. The lack of Memorial depth hurts Elozovic in the latter stretches of any big game. It certainly hurt her last night. She had the initial energy burst to get by Kerutis on her drives to the hole, but her 2nd half jelly legs just didn't have enough to finish some drives. Her turn around medium range jumpers and 3 point attempts were straight on, but came up short many times. She might be able to get away playing 28 to 32 minutes against a middle pack to lower level team and being offensively effective for the whole game, but against a team like BG it is a daunting task.

Don't get me wrong. Even with the boat load of missed shots she had Elozovic had a very good game. She probably had around 20 rebounds to go with 15 points. Memorial has zero options to go to on the bench to rest Elozovic. She is the most important player to her team in D1 girls. Memorial will live and die with a 32 minute game from Elozovic when they play the BGs, Londonderrys, Winnys and the Norths of D1 girls.

If one would say, "What about other scoring options for the Crusaders?" Well, their #2 option is Hartford who did have a nice game last night with 15 points. She was one of the reasons why Memorial had the 36 to 26 lead near the end of the 3rd. Peace Kabari is their #3 scoring option. I stated before the game Kabari would have to score a healthy double digit amount for Memorial to beat BG. Kabari had 8 points, but missed some crucial drive un-finishes and un-pu backs in the 2nd half. Again, lack of depth for Memorial leading to jelly legs. Their scoring options get very thin when searching for a #4 or #5 option.

If Memorial is planning to have 5 1/2 players for the rest of the season in big games then they might want to consider really slowing the ball down for stretches of the 2nd half to rest their 32 minute players. If not, then Memorial will not get over the hump against Winny and BG for the rest of the season.

middleschoolball wrote:It looks like the NHIAA website has the score wrong. The Concord Monitor that appeared on my doorstep this morning is reporting in an article that Pembroke Boys won 63-50 over MV.

Saw Windham at John Stark - great game - back and forth and down to the wire with Windham winning 57-55. John Stark has a 6'8" kid listed on their roster and is a huge presence in the paint, had trouble with layups and had one attempt at a dunk that was not pretty, but with some work he could be a much better player.

If Windham can somehow get into the tourney, they're going to give someone a beast of a 1st round game. They've got some good athletes on that team.

It looks like the NHIAA web site has been updated to Pembroke over MV 60-53.

Spaulding beat Pinkerton by 10 . 56-46.

Parity might be to kind of a word to describe division one this season.

- Jack Quirk was quoted after last night's game saying, "If BG is No.1, we're 1A." Coach Quirk makes a valid statement. There is no question if these 2 teams meet up in the playoffs a bounce, roll or shot here or there could determine the winner. BG is the favorite right now, but not by much. Let's see how the Cardinals' return trip to Winny pans out on Feb. 21st. Memorial to stay as 1A, as Coach Quirk said, faces an extremely tough schedule in their next 5 games.

- You are right, GNG. With Pinkerton losing to Spaulding it does 2 things: 1) Prove Pinkerton's 5 - 1 record going into the Spaulding game was a little inflated. 2) Make 3 lines in the D1 sand:

A) Upper - Merry, Trinity, Alvirne, West, Central and Salem.

B) Middle - Pinkerton, North, South, Spaulding, BG, Memorial, Winny and Dover.

C) Lower - Concord, Keene, Exeter, Londonderry and Timby.


- Last night the West girls were down to Bedford at the end of the 3rd period by a score of 46 - 8. West scored 3, 4 and 1 points respectively in the first 3 periods. West is now 1 - 9 in D2. Their only win was over Sanborn, which is really a D3 school, but is forced to play up because of their enrollment. West's average losing margin is 38 points/game. Their offensive average in 10 games is 20 points/game. This tidbit is a plea to NHIAA to drop the rule that states a sports team in one gender can only be one division away from the other gender. It's time for the West girls to go to D3 or even D4. Wouldn't that make more sense as opposed to West possibly not having a girl's basketball team in the next 2 to 3 years due to a "beat down" syndrome? The Trinity football program would be a prime example of a program that was at it's lowest depth in D1 a few years ago, but then benefitted by moving down to lower divisions and is now a healthy football program.

I think you might be adding Dover and Winnie to the 3rd line very soon.

Dover has beaten Timberlane, St Thomas, and Londonderry.

Winnie has beaten Concord, Keene,and Timberlane.

After looking at the schedule it wouldn't suprise me if Memorial ends up with a losing record.

1 Trinity 6-2 will finish 15-3
2 Merrimack 6-1 will finish 15-3
3 Alvirne 5-2 will finish 15-3
4 Central 5-2 will finish 14-4
5 West 5-3 will finish 12-6
6 Salem 6-2 will finish 11-7
7 BG 4-4 will finish 11-7
8 Spaulding 5-3 will finish 10-8
9 Pinkerton 5-2 will finish 9-9 With the injury to Floras, I am now flip floping Merrimack and Central. Central to the 2 seed . Merrimack to
10 North 5-2 will finish 9-9 the 4 seed.
11 South 5-3 will finish 9-9
12 Memorial 3-3 will finish 8-10
13 Exeter 1-7 will finish 6-12
14 Keene 2-6 will finish 5-13
15 Winnie 3-4 will finish 5 -13
16 Dover 3-4 will finish 5-13
17 Concord 2-6 will finish 4-14
18 Londonderry 1-6 will finish 4-14
19 Timberlane 0-8 will finish 0-18
Let's see how close I come

That's Quite a Quaint Quagmire of a Quandry of teams in that 11 - 7 to 8 - 10 record area.

I will say this. I don't have a Quarrel with the Quantity of teams you have in that Quasi mix of teams, even though it might make some of those teams feel Queasy and experience Qualms about being lumped in to that group. Some of those teams might Question or Quibble and be Querulous to your Quick assessment of their teams. It's up to those teams to Quicken the pace and Quell your opinion and make you become Quiescent.

I for one feel there might be Quirks which might lead to a Quest for a Quid pro Quo.

Tuesday and Friday wrote:That's Quite a Quaint Quagmire of a Quandry of teams in that 11 - 7 to 8 - 10 record area.

I will say this. I don't have a Quarrel with the Quantity of teams you have in that Quasi mix of teams, even though it might make some of those teams feel Queasy and experience Qualms about being lumped in to that group. Some of those teams might Question or Quibble and be Querulous to your Quick assessment of their teams. It's up to those teams to Quicken the pace and Quell your opinion and make you become Quiescent.

I for one feel there might be Quirks which might lead to a Quest for a Quid pro Quo.

I find your views to be a bit Quixotic.