BG vs Trinity Championship

They sure did! It was awesome being able to watch it online thru the Forum! Nicely done NH Sports Forum!

I saw the 2nd half on the computer and I was impressed with both teams and how they played. Both played hard but the officials were ruining it for me a little and I thought you had to murder someone to get a foul!! You know the refs were letting them play but there has to be a limit on the physicality and whatnot but good game put up by both teams! Could've gone either way!

So, if you were down by 4 points in the state championship game with 5 seconds remaining, and the other team had a one-and-one with no one lined up for the rebound, would you pull your starters? Is the possibility of rebounding a miss, rushing down the floor and leaning into a 3 to get fouled making the shot too remote a possiblilty to even try?

I would not pull my starters in that situation. No question leave em in. Never know. Not to mention those are the guys that got you there they deserve to be on the floor at the end.

Sorry I didn't get to tweet much today, I had family in town and wasn't online much of the day. Sounds like two very good games, thanks all that provided updates here!

G reminded me of the late great Danny Duval when he was at the foul line with the championship on the line. You just knew this kid was gonna make them. Just like Danny did. He has fun with the pressure, he relishes it. Just like Danny did. Great player that we get to watch for another season.

That 3 point half court shot to end the 3rd quarter by Keefe was a backbreaker. What a fantastic shot. I thought Keefe stepped up huge for the Pioneers.

Great game. Hats off to Trinity. Congratulations State champs.

BG you guys played your hardest, and left it all on the floor. As a fan that's all I can hope to see. No shame in losing to this Trinity team. No shame at all.


The pregame at Libby's was certainly entertaining.The Cuipa's, JAF and his lovely wife, McClung, Bilodeau's, Mrs Migs, T@F and his much, much, much better half. The stud qb from Bedford's dad Caparell was there with some of his posse. Diamond Dave Haley and his sidekick Justin { funny dude} were there. Good time was had by all.

The game was essential over when BG was down 4 points with 5 seconds left.

I agree with what Jimmy did by playing all of his players in the game.

5 seconds allows time for at the MOST 5 things to happen, soooo here’s the impossible scenario:
Leave the staters in, Trinity misses, the clock starts on them miss, 1 second rebound, 2 seconds fullcourt pass, make the shot, if you make a 3 point shot that is 2 seconds (game over). But let’s say for argument sake it’s a layup call time out. 1 second left down 2. Call time out. Foul immediately, burns another second. GAME OVER!! They still lose.
Migneault did a great job and THE GAME WAS OVER with 5 seconds left!
If you want to criticize something, criticize the officiating.

THE GAMES AT UNH WERE COMPLETELY TERRIBLE. THE NHIAA SHOULD BE ASHAMED!!!!

THE OFFICIALS MADE THE GAMES ABOUT THEM NOT THE KIDS!!!!!!!!!

Nobody was criticizing Migs, relax. Honestly...you're right 99.9% of the time. Stranger things have happened though. I set up a play for 3 point shot hopefully while getting fouled.

I agree with EBless. Nobody is criticizing Mignault. I believe he was the better coach on the floor yesterday. But down 4 with 5 seconds left is extremely improbable.

Here's what I would have done. I would have taken out my two seniors, Lunn and Toscano, in that situation with 5 seconds left, and replaced them with two underclassmen who had already played in the game. That would have given the BG fans a chance to applaud their efforts and thank them for their career contributions to the team. If you have not been in the game up until this point, it is almost disrespectful and embarrassing to be inserted. The memories that a student/athlete takes with them, when their team experiences an atmosphere like UNH, are fantastic. Appearing for 5 seconds in the actual game will not make those memories better.

In regards to the game, I thought BG played well. I believe that they had a great game plan, they played intelligently, and received contributions from many different players. On the other hand, Trinity, holding various leads (9, 7, 5) against BG's zone throughout the 2nd half, shot quickly and often forced the action even when MVP Carmen G was on the bench in foul trouble. They almost let the victory slip away with these ill-advised shots. Lucky for them some went in. I would have rather seen Trinity take some clock and make BG come out of the zone. At times it looked like the NHIAA had instituted a 15 second clock.

Without Carmen G, BG wins by 15. He was a man. He was the one player BG couldn't cover. How fortunate it was Keefe's half-court prayer fell at the end of 3. Remember, G made the extra pass 20 feet up the court to Keefe. Not many would have had the intelligence to make an extra pass in that situation.

As far as the officiating. I always find it strange that officials can turn on a dime with their game perspective. What were the foul numbers in the 1st half. 15-4 fouls called on BG to those on Trinity? When you see this disparity, you can guarantee it will turn around in the second half. It did yesterday. Almost the complete opposite until BG had to foul down the stretch.

I thought it was a great game up until the 4th quarter. Keefe's half-court three was big, but was it actually good? that was the question I was hearing in the crowd. The reason I said 4th quarter is because of the way Trinity played the last quarter, running the clock out from the very beginning. To me that is the wimpiest (most appropriate word I could come up with) move a coach can make, especially in a championship game. It illustrated the point of the need of a shot clock in high school basketball. I also felt the refs in both the semis and finals ruined the flow of the games and made the games about them.

All-in-all, Trinity played a good game and BG gave them a run for their money, just couldn't get over the hump.

If you believe Trinity ran the clock out the entire 4th quarter than I must have been at another gym. From my perspective, Trinity did the opposite. When I consider coaches, I consider winners and losers. Not whimps.

There were 3 or 4 shots down the 4th quarter stretch, 2 deep threes (that went in), a penetration from the top of the key and a shot in the paint (a miss), and a penetration from the wing in front of Trinity's bench where the the ball handler slipped (could have been called a travel. Almost the same thing was called on a BG player in the 1st half) about 8 feet away and threw the ball off the glass (a make). I questioned each of these shots. But 3 of 4 went in. At what point does winning and intelligence overpower the idea that "you are being a whimp" if you run clock. I am tempted to purchase a game film to study and see how many possessions would have actually exceeded the 35 second shot clock.

People still want to discuss the importance of a shot clock. Let's look at what I found in the 1st halves of 22 NCAA tournament games yesterday.
There was an average of 59 points scored in 20 minutes of 1st half action. That's roughly 3 points per minute. In the D1 championship, there was 51 points scored in 16 minutes.That is slightly more than 3 points per minute. (Just a note, there were 45 points scored in the 2nd half) This small sampling is not definitive of anything. It does make me believe two things....1) that a shot clock wouldn't change much in the landscape of NH high school basketball other than penalizing the underdog, who may be better coached in the fundamentals and IQ of basketball. 2) It would perhaps increase the number of forced shots and sloppy play.

I do not believe Trinity ran the clock. I do believe that they did the opposite. When BG stretched their defense as they began to scramble, Trinity spread the floor a bit. BG gave them all that they could handle. My hat is off to Jim Mignault and BG.

I think Trinity took longer possessions in the 2nd half and while the box score doesn't tell the whole story -

BG (16-6) 17 6 13 10 – 46
Trinity (21-1) 14 14 14 8 – 50

It does show a few less points in the 2nd half for them. Keefe managed the first 4-6 minutes of the 3rd like he would the last 4 of a game with a star in foul trouble (which G was having got his 3rd with a few ticks left in the 2nd). G was in and out of the game for his offense for most of the 3rd. When he wasn't in there the offense started near half court with passes to foul line extended and back out.

I remember 2 years ago Trinity fans screaming about BG literally holding the ball waiting for Trinity to come out of their zone. I want to say it was at least 1 if not 2 minutes of absolutely no action, except of course for the boos...

Agree or disagree with the tactic - it's something a NH HS coach can use. The object is to win the game, not excite the fans... Excited and loud fans lead to mistakes by 17-18 yr olds playing a game.

BTW: The tape on the NH Sports Page has that last second 3. From purely the sound of the buzzer it does seem he got it off "in time". I was certainly one of those that didn't think it was let go in time, but I was farrr away from the action. There was an official right behind him on the shot looking in the proper direction and making the proper signal. And unlike normal HS games - in this situation you can look for red light because we all know light travels faster than sound... So up on further review until I can see a tape from behind that official looking for red light on before shot leaves fingertips. Gutsy and ballsy call.

I'll let Dave Haley talk about the officials - his tweet certainly let everyone know his opinion and then the comments on tape during the postgame said the rest.

In the end - it was a great game. Trinity made a few extra plays and that was the difference. BG had their chances but did miss a few layups and short shots inside of 4 minutes to go. I believe the 3 was a huge boost for Trinity and to me that was the difference in this game. BG had come back from 9 down in the 3rd to make it a 3 point game. BG hurried their shot a bit and Trinity got it to go. Big difference starting 6 down over 3 or 1 down.

I see these two teams going at it again next year and the same arguments of "fairness/equality" being raised along with perhaps a few eyebrows related to in-city player movement.

"To me that is the wimpiest (most appropriate word I could come up with) move a coach can make, especially in a championship game."
The Observer


Respectfully Observer, you are totally off the court with your comment. Your evaluation of this situation never crossed my mind during 32 minutes of play yesterday. I will echoe baseball4ever's sentiments and say you were either at a different basketball game yesterday or had a grossly skewered view of the events transpiring in the Lundholm Gym between 3:00 and 4:30 pm. Don't let "sour grapes" get in the way of what was a truly dramatic and great Championship game yesterday played between 2 teams that represented NH HS basketball in a classy way throughout the Tournament.


Congratulations to Coach Keefe and the Trinity team. 2013 D1 State Champs.

I just dont like holding the ball. I just think its a cheap tactic, but I respect the coaches decision to do what they will. I just do not like it.

I respect that. It's an opinion. Some coaches hate zone defense or the Flex. Some fans like an up and down game, full court presses, 32 minutes of hell. In baseball some fans like a pitchers duel, others prefer a slugfest. They are all opinions.

In football you see clock management all the time. It is a tactic that is part of the game. And that's the great thing about baseball. No clock.

As far as coaches are concerned, they probably prefer wins. Therefore, no tactics that get you there, other than hurting or baiting an opponent, are cheap.

BG v Trinity game was a pleasure to watch. Congrats to Trinity and well played game by BG.
I am re-watching it now on Channel 99 Cable..... I wasn't going to say anything about officiating, but boy oh boy was the NH sportspage right!

Great season for both teams.