Central - Memorial Doubleheader at SNHU Feb. 18th

A big doubleheader of Queen City hoops is on tap for Saturday Feb. 18th at SNHU.

At 4:30 pm the Memorial girls will play the Central girls. There's a lot going on in this game. I've heard that potential POY and unquestioned 1st team all state Memorial senior, Amra Elezovic, is 17 points away from 1000 points. The Little Green-ettes have had a rough stretch losing 3 out of their last 4. They had a dreadful 18 point performance in losing to Pinkerton last Tuesday 39 - 18. Central is currently in sole possession of the important 8th slot in the D1 standings. Memorial had back to back bad losses to Winny and Londonderry before capturing solid victories over Merrimack and Alvirne in the last week. The last time these 2 teams played it was in the semi finals of the Central Holiday Tournament. Not much separated these 2 teams in that contest as Memorial eeked out a close victory. Memorial is currently sitting in 5th place and is in a fight for the coveted 4th seed with Pinkerton and North. There is no question in my mind this will be another tight affair.


At 6:00 pm the Central boys will play the Memorial boys. Central is currently in 6th place while Memorial is in 12th place. At halftime of this game the Little Green #52 jersey of Sam Carey will be retired. There is no admission charge. People attending are asked to make a donation instead of the admission. All money collected will go towards Sam's family including his wife and infant son, Brayden.

You couldn't ask for anything more if you're a HS hoop fan. You have 4 good teams and city rivals going at it. You have the coaches, Wenners, Quirk, Doc and Fitz. You have the jersey being retired of a great basketball player and an even better person in Sam Carey.


This will be a remarkably emotional afternoon/evening of basketball at SNHU

Great job summarizing tomorrows games and the ceremony for Sam Carey.

Also wanted to mention that Coach Wheeler and Coach Fitzpatrick will be on with Pete, Marc Thlaer and I tomorrow morning from 8 to 9 talking about the event on the NH High school sports Radio show on WGIR.

Thanks Dave. Looking forward to drinking coffee and listening to the show tomorrow.

I don't know where to begin. Just a great afternoon/evening of basketball with drama, last second buzzer beaters and enough basketball characters to last the rest of the season.

Memorial girls 37 Central 35:

Amra Elozevic laid in a hoop at the buzzer to give Memorial the victory. Central was in control of this game for 31 of the 32 minutes. This was a tough loss for the Wenners' crew. They played well enough to win. They had the Crusaders on the ropes. Johnson had a big game for Central. Memorial had a tough time dealing with her in the paint. Giampetruzzi did an outstanding defensive job on Elozevic making her wortk hard for the whole game. Elezovic only had a couple of points at halftime. Memorial was floundering and Peace Kabari was suspended for the game. Memorial was in trouble. Fletcher played a great 2nd half, Elezovic started heating up and Central felt the pressure of playing the last minute with a small lead. Central made a couple of bad decisions in taking shots with a lead and under a minute to go. Memorial took advantage and tied up the game at 35. Elezovic had the ball with about 20 seconds to go and Ashley G. playing her. It was high "Hoosiers" like drama as Amra watched the clock wind down and made her move, went by her defender and hoisted up a 15 footer with about 5 seconds left in the game. She missed the shot, but followed her miss and laid it in as time expired.

Tough loss for Central.

This game was exactly what I expected. Central has suffered so many close last minute losses to Memorial in the last 3 years. Elezovic finished with 17 points. Given the Bosnian math she gave me a couple of days ago this would've given Amra 1000 points and on a game winning buzzer beater to boot. The stuff that dreams are made of.

But...... We are talking Bosnian math here by the vibrant Memorial senior. Come to find out she needed 21 points to reach 1000 points tonight.

Thanks for the honest mistake Amra. You're the best !!! Alas, Amra will continue her quest for 1000 points this Friday at Memorial against Exeter on senior night. I presume she needs 4 points to reach 1000, unless she made another honest Bosnian math mistake.


Boys: Memorial 45 Central 36

Points were hard to come by as both teams found the big gym and the big crowd much to their offensiove disliking. Central had a difficult time finding some one to score in the first half. One thing became very evident that was missing from the Little Green:

Dylan Lafond

He wasn't playing, on the bench or in street clothes. It seems Lafond came back for a week and decided it just wasn't working, so he isn't on Central any more.

With all due respect to Mr. Tarrier a HUGE loss for Central that attacks their depth in the backcourt. From here on in it will be Dickson, LaCount and sophomore Mike Plentzas running the back court for Central. Central continued their offensive power outage in the 2nd half and Memorial, while not playing great ball themselves, maintained a 5 to 9 point margin for the majority of the 2nd half. With Memorial up 39 to 30 with a couple of minutes to go things got very interesting. Pelletier hit a 3 and Central got another hoop to cut the lead to 39 to 35. Cental fouled Kante and sent him to the line for a 1 and 1 with 22 seconds left. Memorial had missed the front ends of 2 previous 1 and 1s.

Notice I said 1 AND 1.

Kante steps to the line to shoot the front end of a 1 and 1 with 22 seconds left. He missed the FT.

Except, the Central players in the lane stopped thinking it was 2 shots and Memorial rebounded the miss with no defensive pressure and laid it in to make it 41 to 35. The Central players start shouting it was 2 shots at the ref, the ball is laying on the court out of bounds and........

TIME IS STILL RUNNING. Crucial mental error by Central.

Central finally inbounds the ball and is fouled near half court and hits a FT. 9 seconds had gone off the clock.

It was just a weird way to end a game. A tough loss for the Little Green while Memorial gets a big W.


The halftime ceremony was well done with Doc, Mayor Gatsas and Central administrators saying some very nice things about Sam Carey. His jersey was officially retired as Sam's mother, father, wife and son came on the court.

A very special day of basketball, emotion and friends.

Good thoughts and prayers to Sam Carey and his family.


"Wish I were with you but I couldn't stay
Every direction leads me away
Pray for tomorrow but for today
All I want is to be home

People I've loved, I have no regrets
Some I remember, some I forget
Some of them living, some of them dead
And all I want is to be home"