Feb. 3rd Games

Pinkerton at Dover: Big road trip for the Astros. Even though Dover played poorly in their loss to Memorial you have to figure the Green Wave are due for a good effort on a Friday night home game.

South at Merrimack: Interesting game. South is kind of falling. Merrimack had that close game with Londonderry on Tuesday. The Gendron brothers will be up to the task of the speed of South tonight. Will the rest of the Tomahawks join them?

Memorial at North: The referees better have their best pair of black shoes on for this one. North likes to run. Memorial likes the 3. Long missed 3 rebounds will lead to number breaks for North. Both backcourts will be flying around like no tomorrow. Slow will not be a word used tonight in this game.

Spaulding at Winny: The key word in this matchup is "at" after the word Spaulding. This means a road game for Spaulding. Spaulding is 3 - 3 on the road including a 1 point squeaker win at Dover. I will look forward to the result of this game.

Salem at Alvirne: If there is one game I'd like to see tonight it would be this one. These 2 teams have the highest "Team Toughness" quotients in D1 boys. This game will be played like a quarter or semi playoff game. It will be close to the vest. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't any more than a 2 to 7 point spread between the 2 teams for 32 minutes. There will be a lot of ebb, flow and mo swings in this one.......Just like a playoff game in March.


Girls:

North at Memorial: Top 4 seeding is at stake for tie breakers in the marquee game of the night on the girl's side.

Dover at Pinkerton: If Pinkerton has any hope of gaining a top 4 seed then they must beat Dover at home tonight.

Central at Londonderry: The Little Green have been quietly working their way up the standings to being in sole possession of 8th. They have won 4 of their last 5 games. One of those "where are we now" games for Central.

Truly only a couple of interesting games on the D-2 boys slate tonight (on paper, anyway). The marquee game of the night in D-2 will be Bedford (8-2) at Portsmouth (9-2). The Clippers will need to rebound effectively against Bedford's big front line. Any multi-sport Bedford players playing hoops will be looking to avenge recent losses in the D-3 football championship and the D-2 baseball semi-finals.

Merrimack Valley (7-4) at Goffstown (6-4) looks to be a good game. MV has won 5 of their last 6.

Souhegan (9-1) at Milford (4-7). Any chance of the Spartans pulling off the upset at home?

The mismatch of the night is in Hanover, where the Marauders (11-0) will remain unbeaten, hosting winless Kennett (0-10).

Saw Pinkerton the other night at BG., I was impressed with Smith the guard. He must have had 8 deflections and/or steals. Handles the ball with either hand real nice player. Heard he is going to St As for soccer. I think he could easily play there.
Chris Light really has s the instincts for posting up players. BG gave he baseline cuts all night and he played one on five and almost won. One question on his game, most of the cuts were to the left side, needs to mix it up. I think a nice D3 program as a 2 guard gets a little bigger could play the 3. Has all the ability from what I saw.

I think however Pinkerton has the tought p[art of their schedule coming up and Salem is a critical game for them.The 1-2-2- press theyh run might be he difference.

Seacoastdad: Word out of Bedford is they are starting to click as a team and sre really looking forward to their matchup with Portsmouth tonight.

Final Memorial girls 52 North 48. It was a very physical and intense game.

Omauru Kante was fouled while taking a 3 with .7 seconds left in the Memorial at North boys game. He hit at least 1 ft to give Memorial the victory.

Pinky girls beat Dover by 1 in OT.

Spaulding beat Winny.

Exciting night of HS hoops! !!!!!

Memorial Beat North by 2 in a good game.Tied at 56 Memorial had the ball with 30 second left and ran the clock down to under 7 and still had nothing resembling an offense set, then the Freshman guard Kante dribbled left at the top of the key and was doubled and took a fade away 22 footer he was being covered by Gauthier who had him shut down with no place to go, O'connor came over and was there to defend the shot and as well and was called for a foul. There was no contact by North player on Kante who shot an air ball. He was bailed out by a ref with 7 left with a late whistle. For a good hard fought game to be decided by a ref that had called 2 fouls all game long was absurd.

Merrimack beat South by 1.

Big surprise Salem 61Alvirne 43

Fun game to watch in Portsmouth tonight, as the Clippers defeated the Bedford Bulldogs 62-49. After Portsmouth jumped out to a quick lead, Bedford rallied to tie the game at 11-11 after one. The 2nd quarter was back and forth, and PHS went up 29-26 at the half on a buzzer beating 3 pointer by Kamahl Walker. Portsmouth went on a run in the third and was ahead by around 10 at the end of 3. They extended the lead to as much as 15 in the 4th, and BHS could get no closer than 10 the rest of the way.

Walker was solid for Portsmouth, and they also got a great effort from Jake Lehoux. It was nice to see Kyle DiCesare back on the court for Portsmouth, finally returning after a broken ankle suffered in football. It's going to take him a while to get back in game shape, but it will be a big boost for the Clippers when he is back at full speed.

Trevor Fahmy had a nice game for Bedford, and I don't recall anyone else that stood out individually. If you haven't seen Bedford in person, those kids are absolutely huge, especially for a D-2 team. They have 4 players listed at 6'7" or taller, including two sophomores, one being 6'10" sophomore Collin McManus. The skinnier Portsmouth forwards did a nice job battling all night, using their fouls when necessary.

The early returns from the NHIAA web site are showing a couple of upsets in D-2 (assuming, of course, that the postings are accurate). Milford was indeed able to upset Souhegan 63-47, and Windham upset Bishop Brady 56-50. Undefeated Hanover now has a 2-game lead for first place in the D-2 standings, and looking at their schedule, they are a virtual lock for a top 4 seed.

Went to the triple-header at Milford (freshmen, Girls Varsity, Varsity boys all vs souhegan) first thing I have to point out in one of the games had the coach worried more about coaching his players than complaining about/to the refs they may have won (kind of happened in one of the others too) But as they went Milford freshmen won a back and forth game. The girls game was brutal to watch. Lots of fouls, lots of missed layups and jumpers but tremendous hustle by both, Souhegan came away with the victory. Thought Tori Forrest played very well for Souhegan physical on the boards. She got great position in the post showed some great moves. I think they should've involved Ceara Macnamara more Milford relies way to much on Dina Pitsas. She had way to much pressure on her tonight (does every night) but more than she could handle tonight. Dupuis lead Milford in scoring.

Boys game was packed and rocking for both student sections. Milford came out quick but for majority of the game was very sloppy, turned it over and gave up way to many second chance opportunities. Wouldn't say Souhegan played to much better they too were rather sloppy but they made the most of there opportunities and played better half-court defense in my mind. Lakin came out hot with the first 5 points of the game and continued it for pretty much rest of the game finishing with 18 played very good on ball D. Other than him only other consistent player Milford has was Jovi scored 12 off the bench, majority of them coming in the second half he too played great D and hit the boards hard despite his lack of size. I still think once he's got his feet under him Milfords not a team you want to play come the playoffs (assuming they make it) Souhegan got 14 from Len, 11 from Mckenna and 11 from Peterson. They play good team D really smothered Milford and it seems they're just willing to feed who ever has the hot hand at the time. Souhegan won 63-47.

Jeez, my words were prophetic. The NHIAA web site incorrectly shows Milford winning. Does anybody know who posts the scores? I thought is was the coaches, but I may be wrong.

AD does at Milford, if he doesn't do it then the coach goes ahead and does it.

I was at the BG girls game tonight... Timberlane played 'em tough for 3 quarters - in fact they led all of the first half by as much as 11. BG couldn't hit a shot - it was quite surreal. Eventually the speed and pace of the game caught up with Timberlane and BG won going away. I didn't keep stats or take note of too many specific players, by Sherborne had a great 2nd half with lots of drives to the hoop for layups. Of course, Timberlane was shooting at the cursed basket in the second half - almost nothing fell for them. They made a mini run with about 4 minutes left to get it to 2, but they just didn't have the legs to defend. Tough to rotate 7 or 8 girls against a team that just runs, runs, and runs some more.

I know the boys won big too. That makes them 3-1 in their last 4 (like I had said they needed to be). They now need to repeat the 3-1 over the next 4 games in order to have a chance at hosting a playoff game.

I was very impressed with how hard both the Memorial and North girls played tonight. It was a very competitive game between 2 evenly matched teams. Both teams squeezed every ounce of basketball energy out of their teams tonight. Both coaches were on their game. It was a very physical game. Every inch of basketball turf was fought over by the players. Elezovic had her usual good all around game. Danielle Fletcher did a lot of nice things for the Crusaders. I give kudos to Coach Ricky of North. He did an excellent job with his team. He worked the refs, but not overly so, to the point of looking for a competitive edge. The North girls play hard disciplined ball. Quite simply the key part of this game was when Memorial freshman Peace Kabari literally:

STOLE THE SHOW

In one key 90 second sequence she had 3 steals which lead to 2 baskets and a FT when she was fouled. This gave Memorial a much needed cushion that helped them get the victory. I wonder if Peace ever heard of John Havlicek? At the start of the season I had Kabari on my honorable mention all state team. After seeing her come up big in some big games this year there is no doubt she is one of the top freshman if not one of the 2 or 3 best and hands down deserves to make all state.

It's so close that this week one loss Merrimack could have woken up today eighth place Merrimack. They didn't because they beat 2 poor teams by a whopping total of 2 points.

It's so close that BG started the week in 14th place and after 2 wins are in 11th. If they win 2 easy games next week they could be in 5th place by the end of next week. Amazing.

For those of you that pay attention to my ramblings the streak is now at 2 games {and growing}.

Alvirne getting dusted at home. Unbelievable.

I hear Tom Cruise has a new movie coming out. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 4. It has him and his team sitting around trying to figure out who is going to win the NH division one State championship.. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT.

More insight
Londonderry has lost 5 games by a total of 12 points.

Dover has lost 4 games by a total of 7 points.

South has lost 4 games by a total of 9 points.

This could be the year where a top 4 seed loses it's first game at home. I know that sounds crazy, but that is exactly what this season has been. CRAZY.

Keene has fired their hoop coach. Again. For using foul language at practice. Imagine that, a coach who curses.

GNG wrote: More insight

This could be the year where a top 4 seed loses it's first game at home. I know that sounds crazy, but that is exactly what this season has been. CRAZY.

I don't think it's crazy - what will be crazy is if it happens to more than one of them and it could.

What an awesome season!

Tully. Couldn't agree more.

I meant crazy as unpredictable/ awesome/zany/ mind boggling.

I like to think I have a grasp on it. I am clueless. It's like going to the track for me {I never win at the track so I don't go anymore}.

It's going to be very interesting to see who is hoisting the trophy when all the dusts settles.



Tully- can't help but notice you haven't offered your opinion lately.

Does this season have you befuddled?

GNG wrote: Keene has fired their hoop coach. Again. For using foul language at practice. Imagine that, a coach who curses.

Is this effective now?

Yep. Go to Keene Sentinel online.

Wow - nice work GNG

I agree with GNG about how unpredictable this season is. I expect Trinity to be in the final, but the rest of the top 4 teams could be almost anyone now. I use to think Merrimack would win it all, but with Floras out they've fallen down a notch and blend more with the crowd of other contenders.

By the way, Dover came very close to beating Pinkerton last night. Patrikis rolled his ankle in the BG game and didn't play.

Jeremy in your article you mentioned Memorial other Freshman Kabango was developing nicely I did not see on the V bench or the JV game, Is he hurt or his playing Freshman, I anted to see him and could not find him.

GNG wrote:
Tully- can't help but notice you haven't offered your opinion lately.
Does this season have you befuddled?

No - I have been busy with some things lately that have to take precedence - nothing bad - or good at this point. Time will tell.

I like the fact that the season hasn't (and most likely won't be) been sewn up before we get to the very end.

I had said I'd have a better feel for Central around this time, however, and yet I am still shaky on them. There are certain teams CHS is always vulnerable to (Trinity, Salem, South, Memorial - in no particular order). Playing South at South could be a huge hit to the LG psyche. We'll see how that goes. I have weird questions about Central's shelf life so I'm not sure if they're considerable or not.

I like where Memorial is right now - I think they just may peak at the perfect time for Fitzpatrick, Burke and Lett to really bring out something impressive mid March.

I think players could underestimate BG due to their hiccups but I don't think coaches will and they will be a tough draw wherever they end up. Not sure the drama is done, but drama can inspire or derail.

I fear West won't get the glass slipper but would like to see them make it to the ball because West has a lot of good things going on there and this season should be a boost to them.

Even though I was a Purple Panther - I see South coming in with at least 2-3 losses maybe more and that's going to sting for them. Don't flame me for that - they're my alma mater - separating my roots from my head here.


It sure is an interesting season though

GNG,

You write about Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible........ "It has him and his team sitting around trying to figure out who is going to win the NH division one State championship.. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT" You may be right about that.

You also write how a top 4 team is going down in the 1st round.

You also write about how Londonderry has 5 losses by a total of 12 points

You also write about how South has 4 loses by a total of 9 points

And correctly you write about how "crazy" a year it has been.

However, you also write....."It's so close that this week one loss Merrimack could have woken up today eighth place Merrimack. They didn't because they beat 2 poor teams by a whopping total of 2 points."

Either South and Londonderry are teams to consider in the big picture or they are "poor." What's it going to be?



Yes, Londonderry is 1 and 9 but 7 of their loses are by a total of 24 points....South, North, Salem, Pinkerton, Central, Merrimack and Dover ( you also mention Mike Romps team ashas having been in close games) That's not too shabby a resume for Londonderry.....

So if you look the Lancers have had two bad games.....against your BG team and Winnnacunnet. Sometimes young teams simply have to learn HOW to win.

Nashua South.....after starting the season 4-0, goes 1-6. The 6 losses by a combined 23 points. Are they poor? Their resume includes 2 road wins...BG and Salem....that's interesting.

GNG, take off your BG Cardinal sunglasses and look closely at the big picture. Playing without 2 starters it looks like those last two Merrimack one-point victories, over two "poor" teams, Londonderry and South, were pretty impressive.