March 6th Games

Light schedule for the last regular season night of the season:

Bedford at Exeter: The Bulldogs need this W to secure the #5 seed.

Londonderry at Spaulding: The Lancers are playing for the perfect season. The Red Raiders are jockeying for the # 3 or # 4 seed. Win or lose Spaulding will host a potential 2 playoff games.

Pinkerton at Merrimack: The Tomos win or lose will be in tie-breaker city to determine their seed for the playoffs. Pinkerton will either have the # 3 or # 4 seed.

Keene at Winny: Holy tie-breaker!! Both these teams are battling for a seed in the #10 to #16 area.

Central at Alvirne: Central has the #2 seed locked up regardless of the outcome of this game. Alvirne is battling for a seed in the # 5 to # 9 area.

Salem at Memorial: Huge game for Coach Mac and the Blue Devils. Win and they jockey for a #10 to #16 seed. Lose and if Exeter beats Bedford then Salem could find themselves as the #17 team, which means no playoffs. Memorial is fighting for a seed in the #10 to #15 area. They are in regardless of the outcome.

Tuesday and Friday wrote:Keene at Winny: Holy tie-breaker!! Both these teams are battling for a seed in the #10 to #16 area.

Salem at Memorial: Huge game for Coach Mac and the Blue Devils. Win and they jockey for a #10 to #16 seed. Lose and if Exeter beats Bedford then Salem could find themselves as the #17 team, which means no playoffs. Memorial is fighting for a seed in the #10 to #15 area. They are in regardless of the outcome.

I can't figure out any scenarios where Salem could be eliminated. If they lose and Exeter beats Bedford, Salem would end up in a 4-way tie for the 14-17 positions with either a) Exeter, North, and Keene, or b) with Exeter, North and Winny.  I am assuming the first tiebreaker is head to head (in which all teams play each other the same number of times, which is true).  In scenario a, Salem and Keene are each 2-1 in head-to-head, and Exeter and North are 1-2, so Salem and Keene are in.  Salem beat Keene, and North beat Exeter, so Salem would be 14, Keene 15, North 16 and Exeter 17.  In scenario b, Winny is 0-3 so they would be 17.  Salem, Exeter and North would then go to the next tiebreaker to determine 14-15-16.

DISCLAIMER:  I may be 100% right, or 100% wrong.  Just my thoughts and individual analysis.

You are right about Salem, SeacoastDad.

They are in the playoffs even if Jack Quirk suits up tonight and scores 30 points and teams with Trevon & Kabongo to lead the Crusaders to a resounding victory. It was tough to see through the middle and lower tier Logjams in the standings with all the similar records of teams # 6 to #16.

Wouldn't that be something to see: Jack Quirk, Kabongo and Trevon running the triangle offense on the court at 1 Crusader Way. Me thinks the only coach in the universe to get those 3 to run the triangle offense properly would be the Zen Master himself: Phil Jackson.

1 Londonderry
2 Manchester Central
3 Pinkerton
4 Spaulding
5 Bedford
6 Pembroke
7 Nashua South
8 Alvirne
9 Merrimack
10 Trinity
11 Manchester Memorial
12 Bishop Guertin
13 Keene
14 Salem
15 Nashua North
16 Winnacunnet

Disclaimer:  My analysis only.

It looks pretty good SeacoasDad.

What a wild night of hoops. All 4 D1 girls' quarterfinals were close. It was an interesting night at Memorial. They showed flashes of brilliance against Salem which makes you think they can beat any of the 15 teams in the playoffs. They showed flashes of ineptitude which makes you think they could lose to any of the other 15 teams in the playoffs. They did this all without their head coach who was serving a suspension. Now, Memorial plays Pembroke in the marquee prelim game. Oh the drama that'll be in the Pembroke gym next Wednesday when the Crusader team comes to play the Spartans. Basketball reality at it's best !!

From the UL:


High School Roundup: Coleman steps up for Lancers; Kante the hero for Little Green
With a double-digit lead reduced to three early in the fourth quarter, and its top scorer on the bench in foul trouble, the Londonderry boys’ basketball team’s undefeated regular season was in serious jeopardy on Friday night at Spaulding of Rochester.
Then sophomore Jake Coleman stepped up. The 6-2 shooting guard scored 17 of his 22 points in the final period, helping the Lancers break it open and beat the Red Raiders, 77-60, to finish the regular season 18-0.
Londonderry, which clinched the top seed in Division I on Monday, led 24-11 after one quarter, 40-35 at the half and 50-45 after three, but the 15-3 Raiders, led by Darian Berry (21 points), whittled it down to a single possession in the fourth before Coleman “went off,” in the words of Londonderry coach Nate Stanton.
““This builds momentum for the playoffs,” said Stanton. “Other guys stepped up. This was a great win for us.”

Senior Marc Corey matched Coleman’s 22 points. Top scorer Cody Ball, in foul trouble in the second half, still scored 20 points. Manchester Central 77, Alvirne 74: In Hudson, Oumaru Kante (19 points) made the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Broncos (9-9) had come back from down 16 at the break. Evan MacDonald dranied six 3-pointers and had 20 points for the Little Green (17-1). Joey Martin and Jaylen Leroy were also in double figures scoring for Central. Sam Bonney-Liles led Alvirne with 13 points on three triples. Manchester Memorial 77, Salem 69: Kabongo Ngalakulondi led all scorers with 29 as Memorial took the lead in the first half and held on to win. Trevon Maughn had 14 and Craig Preston had 15 for the Crusaders (8-10). Matt Vartanian had 25 and Jarod Lott scored 16 for Salem (6-12).Pinkerton 58, Merrimack 48: In a Division I regular-season finale in Merrimack, the Astros (15-3) outscored the Tomahawks (9-9) in every quarter to prevail. Matt Rizzo led Pinkerton with 19 points and six rebounds, and Geo Baker (11 points) and Drew Green (10) also hit double figures. Zack Kerr paced Merrimack with 14 points.Trinity 56, Concord 43: At Manchester, Connor Walsh 17 points, including 8-for-8 from the free throw line, to lead the Pioneers on Senior Night. Trinity led wire to wire.
Keanyon Lambert contributed 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Justin Trickett scored 15 for Trinity (8-10). Matthew Giroux scored 15 and Walter Szulc scored 16 for Concord (0-18).

Tuesday and Friday wrote:You are right about Salem, SeacoastDad.

They are in the playoffs even if Jack Quirk suits up tonight and scores 30 points and teams with Trevon & Kabongo to lead the Crusaders to a resounding victory. It was tough to see through the middle and lower tier Logjams in the standings with all the similar records of teams # 6 to #16.

Wouldn't that be something to see: Jack Quirk, Kabongo and Trevon running the triangle offense on the court at 1 Crusader Way. Me thinks the only coach in the universe to get those 3 to run the triangle offense properly would be the Zen Master himself: Phil Jackson.

I doubt they would play together as Jack Quirk has been suspended. Maybe someone can confirm the details. He wasn't there last night.