Friday's D1 Boy's Quarterfinal Matchups

Unbelievable. Trinity comeback,Alvirne upset, 3ot for Central, BG playing an away game at home.The Dover paper has a nice recap of the game. Only one dance crasher. Number 1 BG, Number 2 Trinity, Number 4 Central, and number 11 Alvirne.
I will tell you this from the Guertin game. Those Spaulding seniors did not want to go quietly into the night. They fought till the end, my hat is tipped to them.Win with class, lose with class. Coach Cronin should be proud of his team, and his son who hit some Ginourmas shots in the 4th.
After the game was over I was shaking so bad I couldn't even text, and I don't get nervous. I can't even imagine how the kids felt. This tourny is starting to shape up as one that will be talked about for years. BIBLICAL.

So, I wake up this morning with an extreme headache from the Killer B's:

Basketball, Billy's and Blogging

What does one do to soothe the pain? 20 ounce cup of coffee, 2 advil and a review of notes from the memorable 3 OT game at Central last night. (Full recap of the game will be posted on another site this morning)

- Gabe LaCount was just immense in the 3 OT periods. He had 13 points in the 3 OT periods. He constantly drove to the hoop and put pressure on the Salem defense. It seemed he had an extra gear in the OTs. He played like the dangerous offensive weapon I thought he would be at the start of the season.

- 6'1 Salem sophomore Andrew Ruffen came up big for Salem once Gallant and Lorenz fouled out in the OTs. He was one of their main options on offense. He plays longer than his 6'1. He looks like he can be a good shooter and take the ball to the rack.

- There were times in all 3 OTs last night when both teams just waited on offense for 10 to 20 seconds to rest to get ready for the next battle on drives to the hoop or for the physical rebounding that would take place near the glass. It was like Ali and Frazier resting on each other in the 13th to 15th rounds for a few seconds knowing they would exchange savage blows in the near future.

- There were at least 4 or 5 instances where Doc would follow an official to the scorer's table and "respectfully" disagree with their interpretation of a call. He would wave his arms, shake his hips and almost look like a ballet performer. Given recent movies and Doc's choice of upper body color could he be called the "Black Swan" during these dances?

- Jeff Meisser was a constant threat during this game. Even on the shots he missed he displayed such nice form under fire I thought more of his shots would go in. He had 23 points and ended his career with style.

- Gallant picks up his 5th foul with 2:44 left in the first OT on a charge into Wickey. Lorenz picks up his 5th foul with 1:32 left in the first OT fouling Wickey on FT rebounding action at the Central hoop. Salem continued to fight, scratch and claw for the next 9 and a half minutes of OT without their 2 best Bigs. THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE. Salem is not overly deep to begin with. I think this shows you the will to win Salem had in this game. How many teams in the state could've weathered this "Foul Out Storm" and still had a chance to send the game into a 4th OT with 6 seconds left in the 3rd OT or a chance to win it?

- My absolute favorite part of the game: In the 2nd OT Central is up 50 - 47 with under a minute to go. The obvious choice is to score a 2 and then play D or set up Meisser for a 3. The ball gets rotated to Cannone who looks at the hoop from 3 point land at the top of the key. He shockingly puts up a "heh why not 3 attempt" which had a shock value only surpassed by the shock value of the ball going swish. The Salem crowd explodes. Central calls TO. As I said in my recap:

{There are certain times in a basketball game where you feel a higher power has taken over the gym. A spiritually religious kind of power. Enter former Salem QB, Matt Cannone. He would probably be scoring option #5 for Salem when they are down by 3 with just under a minute to go. It's a good thing Matt has all those football muscles as he needed every one of them to launch a 3 pointer at the top of the arc. The form he used won't be used in a basketball shooting video, but the ball swished through the net to tie the game at 50 to 50 with 50 seconds left. Perfect symmetry !! Basketball Reverend Cannone has just opened up the spiritual part of this game and we are his devoted basketball disciples.

Salem goes crazy. Central calls time out. Players come on the court smiling at the referees now knowing we are on to something special. The crowd, players and referees all feel it. Neither team scores for the next 50 seconds to poetically send this epic game into a 3rd OT.}

This sequence was so bibically epic I had to use the {GNG} markings to hilight it.

I will pick up where you left off. After Central came back from the time out off of Cannones 3.... they bring the ball down the court and Cannone 'steals the ball' had a clear run to what would have possibly been a game winning layup but fumbled the ball away. They would have written ballads about him had he completed the 3 - steal - layup.

I have said on here before that I am not a big bball fan, but it was fun last night. In regulation and in two of the 3 OTs, Salem launched the potential game winning shot with no time left and they all caught rim. So close.

They have been doing a great job on the tourny,and the morning after what many people feel was the most exciting night in division 1 {class L} quarter final history the airwaves are dead. What's up with that?

For what it's worth, I heard WGAM mention last week that was going to be the last Saturday broadcast of the year - but they would be broadcasting the semi-finals and finals.

What a night last night -still trying to digest everything that happened - almost too much to process! I haven't been following NH high school hoops for long, but I have to believe long time followers would be very hard pressed to come up with a night than even comes close to what took place last night in terms of excitement and level of play in all four games. Everybody said from very early on this season was wide open and boy it has been all that and more. Even with a few teams being at or near the top for most of the season, "on any given night"" as they say....especially true this year. It is a real credit to the heart and determination of the players and the quality of the coaches in terms of making adjustments and developing game plans based on the matchups they face each and every game. I mean, Alvirne taking out Memorial, Spaulding and Londonderry pushing BG and Trinity to the brink, and the epic thriller at Central - how could you ask for anything more!

I took in the game at Trinity last night. What a battle. Very physical game start to finish. The Londonderry kids came out on absolute fire - they were beating Trinity to every loose ball and rebound. I don't think Trinity scored a basket until less than a minute was left in the first quarter. They had shots, but nothing was going down and Londonderry on the other hand was working so hard that their sheer energy produced some very easy looks finding guys open under the basket. Along with a couple of timely threes, they had the lead over 15 points at one point early in the second. It really looked like Londonderry was on full throttle while Trinity was stuck in neutral. #24 for Londonderry (Martinez) played great for Londonderry the whole game - but during this stretch in particular. He must have had 10 points in the first half. Trinity was able to finally get something going on offense and was able to cut the lead to 10 at halftime. At that point, you had the feeling that Londonderry had played about as well as they could while Trinity was just the opposite - the only question was how big a hole were they going to dig for themselves and would they be able to get out of it in the second half.

The third quarter the teams basically traded buckets for the most part with Trinity cutting into the lead by 3 to head into the 4th down by 7. Could definitely sense a change in the Trinity energy level though. The big guys were finally getting after it on the boards and that seemed to be the biggest difference. A few minutes into the fourth #3 (Majong) for Trinity got them to within 3 with a three point play (layup and foul shot) and then on the next possession they tied it on a 3 pointer by #33 (Stevens). At that point, all the momentum was back with Trinity and could sense Londonderry felt it. Have to give Londonderry tons of credit though, they kept on fighting, had some big shots down the stretch, but a couple of turnovers, clutch shots from #10 (Lauderdale) around the elbows, and Trinity hitting their foul shots spelled the difference in the end. It was a lot of fun to watch! I have to also say that they Trinity gym was unbelievably loud (on both sides - the student bodies going back and forth at each other all night was a lot of fun as well!) and hot! There was so much humidity in the air, the floor was actually getting very slippery with condensation toward the end of the game. The heat reminded me of the old Celtics / Lakers finals in June when the Garden would get to be about 100 degrees and you'd see Kareem sucking on an oxgen mask to get a breath - I don't know what the temp was in there last night, but it was close - I was sweating just sitting there.

Absolutely can't ask for anything more than we got last night in all four games that were played - good luck to all four teams in the semi-finals next week! Also - to all four of the teams that came out on the losing ends last night - you have nothing to hang your heads about - it stinks that somebody had to lose these games, but you did yourselves, your schools and your communities more than proud!

I agree with you, hard to process. My head is still swirling. The gym at Lund Rd was also an oven. They announced before half that is was sold out and don't go outside because you might not get back in. Half comes and there is a mad dash to get outside by a ton of people.Everyone got back in.

Same at the Memorial game. I have never been so hot during a game just watching it. It was like i ran a marathon.

This is why Memorial lost last night. With this stat line its going to be a rough game;

"Third-seeded Memorial opted to live or die by the 3-pointer and made only nine of 36 attempts (25 percent) from long range. The Crusaders also missed 13 of 14 free-throw attempts"

Just talked to K Bonney former coach at Alvirne, he echoe'd those stats, said ti was amazing they shot so many 3's. 1 for 14 from the FT line does not win games. Alvirne went 15 for 18 or someting.

As you know I tell my kid no fouls first two minutes of the game, get a feel for how the game is being called. Let the adrenaline settle down a bit. I think it's good advice.

Ten seconds into the game my son picks up his first foul.

Late in the 4th quarter with guertin clinging to a 2 point lead there was a loose ball on the floor, the BG football players must have been having flashbacks because kelly,remi,and pyscho gave full out dives into 3 spaulding players who were doing the same thing.It was like a rugby scrum. Bodies smashing and crashing, CRAZY PHYSICAL,no fouls called.

Cuipa's best game of the year,blocked shots,rebounds, steals, assists, all the little things.

Green showed why he should be player of the year. Monster game. His arms after the game looked like he had been in a knife fight.Deep scratches.

McCarthy would not be coming off the bench of to many teams in nh, but he plays behind 2 of the best players in d1. People who haven't seen him play yet are in for a treat in Durham.

Here's my recap from the Central/Salem 3OT thriller. I wrote the story for NHSportspage.com, but because of my computer/internet issues last night and the scrambling website administrator Dave Haley had to do this morning because the NHIAA decided to move the D4 Boys Title game up to a noontime start at SNHU because of the flooding in Plymouth my recap wont be up on NHSportspage.com until sometime later today. Thought you might like to see my thoughts...like the game, it's pretty looooooooooooooong...so buckle in!

Tarrier’s Take…Central ousts Salem in triple OT, 57-55
By Pete Tarrier
In the final minute of the 4th quarter of a very low scoring NHIAA Boys Division 1 tournament contest between Manchester Central and Salem last night, the score was tied at 37 and I thought to myself, “this has to be one of the best games I’ve ever seen…and both teams are probably going to be under 40.” As it turns out, I was wrong about neither team being able to top the 40 point mark, but I was right on about it being one of the best games I’ve ever seen!

So where do I begin? Let’s start from the top where Salem ran out to a 17-6 lead at the end of 1. The 5th seeded Blue Devils were putting on a clinic on offense at that point, moving the ball all around the perimeter, running large chunks of time of the clock and looking for the perfect shot which they were making more often than not. Sweet shooting Jeff Meisser was doing his thing with 2 1st quarter three pointers, while big men Joe Gallant and Mike Lorenz chipped in with 4 points each in the opening 8 minutes. Even pass 1st point guard Jon Klecan got into the act with a swished 3 ball just 19 seconds in for the 1st 3 points of the game.
The Salem lead increased to 14 points when sophomore guard Andrew Ruffen came off the bench and drilled a 3 to make it 20 to 6 with only 29 seconds gone by in the 2nd quarter. It wasn’t looking good for Central at that point because this year’s edition of the Little Green isn’t all that deep and they are not known as a good “comeback” team, especially against a good defensive team like Salem. Fortunately for Doc Wheeler’s squad, that 3 pointer for Ruffen would be the ONLY points Salem scored in the entire 2nd quarter so the game went into halftime a much more manageable 20-13 Salem advantage. When Gabe Lacount nailed a 3 halfway thru the 3rd quarter, Central had completed a 15 to 0 run that got them into the lead at 21-20. It was back and forth the rest of the way.

“It was just a war!” Wheeler said. “It didn’t look too good when we were down 20 to 6. I’m just proud of our guys, they just fought, fought. We(only) played 6 guys…how many overtimes did it go?” When told it took 3 overtimes the exhausted Wheeler didn’t really even want to think about playing top seed BG(a winner last night against #8 Spaulding) in the semis next Tuesday…”I’m just so pleased to get out of that game(Salem). We know going up to UNH that we’ve got a chance to beat anybody. We’ve got a lot of preparation to do to get ready for Guertin. They’re very good. I’m just really right now very pleased at how our guys competed!”

It was 27-26 Salem at the end of 3 and the game went into the 1st overtime tied at 37. Central got a big break when 6’5” Salem forward Joe Gallant(8 points, 7 rebounds) fouled out early in the 1st OT. A couple minutes later, Salem’s other big guy, 6’4” Mike Lorenz(8 points, 5 rebounds) joined Gallant on the bench with his 5th foul. With Gallant and Lorenz out of the game, Central was able to take advantage inside with the 6’6” Wickey(21 points, 10 rebounds) and the dribble penetration and ability to get to the rim of Lacount(all 19 his points in the 2nd half, including 11 of them in the overtime periods). The 6’0” tall Lacount was also a big factor on the boards, both offensive and defensive as he pulled in 6 of his 8 rebounds in the 3 OT’s. Despite all this, Salem still managed to stay in the game thanks to the clutch shooting of Ruffen and Messier who each hit big buckets in the 1st OT which ended in a 44 all tie. Matt Cannone stepped up with a long 3 pointer in the 2nd overtime, tying the game at 50 apiece with just 52 seconds left in the 2nd extra session.

Early in the 3rd OT, hoops by Lacount and Wickey put Central up 4 at 54-50, but a Matt Loguidice basket brought the Blue Devils back within 2 before a Lacount offensive rebound and putback with a minute left gave Central another 4 point cushion at 56-52. Meisser, like he so often has done in his breakout senior season, answered with his 6th 3 pointer of the night with 46 seconds to play and just like that Salem was down just 1 again, 56-55. Wickey was fouled on the other end and hit just 1 of 2 FT’s to make it 57-55 with 21.9 seconds left giving Salem life. All they needed was a 2 to tie, but with Meisser on the team and a depleted bench you pretty much knew coach Rob McLaughlin wasn’t risking going into a 4th overtime, he wanted to put the ball in Messier’s hands and let him take the shot that would win it if it went in. The off balance, fallaway shot was way off and Central was able to survive and move on, but not before a little stress according to Wickey. “Everytime he throws it up you think it’s going in. I knew he was off balance shooting the last one so I was just hoping. I’m looking at the track of the ball as I was blocking out to rebound and I saw the clock go to zero. It’s good to be on to UNH!” On the match-up with BG, a team Central lost a close one to back on Opening Night in December, Wickey said…”We were up the whole game and we didn’t have Junior(Thaddeus Brown, who missed the game serving a suspension) at all so it’s a totally different ballgame. From that point on they’ve gotten loads better, we’ve gotten loads better. It’s gonna be about who made the best improvement from that point on and hopefully it’s us.”

The heartbreaking loss for Salem ended a better than expected season in most people’s eyes and put an abrupt end to a tremendous 1st year at the helm for coach McLaughlin, the former Salem assistant who took over for EJ Perry after he left to coach football in Andover, MA. Come to think of it, I’m sure Perry and McLaughlin will be talking about marathon overtimes games as Perry’s new team was involved in an 8 OT thriller last fall. Meisser, a role player last year as a junior, came out firing 3’s from the start of his senior year, and finished with a game high 23 points, but the thing he’ll remember for a long time was the shot that didn’t go in. “I always have confidence in my shot, but I wasn’t set and they had me covered pretty good.” Asked to talk about the feeling that his season and his high school career had ended so suddenly, the soft spoken senior said, “That was definitely the craziest game I’ve ever been involved in. Right now I feel like an avalanche just hit, but I think we left it all out on the court. I’m just really proud of everyone.” Me too, and I just watched the game. It was one for the ages. On to UNH!

I was amazed how many 3's they shot. i thought they would work it down low with Madol more. But no they just kept jacking up 3's. And from the line it was bad. If the even made half of thier foul shots they would have probably won the game. thats a 13 point swing just on foul shots. Alvirne was clutch though. Beaulieu made huge shots and Donnelly went 9 of 9 from the foul line. This game was won and lost at the Foul line.

Great point about not having Junior Brown that first game, but remember they had Stisser who no longer plays. Guertin was without Mike Kelly and Joe McCarthy two pretty important pieces in the BG puzzle. Congrats Central, great win. I expect nothing less then an outstanding game from both teams Tuesday.

One little moment that was very funny happened near the end of one of the OTs at Central last night. You already had at least 36 to 40 minutes of basketball played with everyone being emotionally drained at this point. During a time out the PA announcer says something like this:

"Please remember the officials working tonight's game are certified officials and please respect them and don't make critical comments towards them."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME ?????

It was almost surreal. It was like a screenwriter said this would be a perfect time to throw this on the PA system to add more flavor to this already epic game. Every one just looked at each other in the crowd, including a lot of people giving opinions to the 3 man officiating crew for the last 36 to 40 minutes and said, "What's up with this?"

Too funny.

Happened at the Memorial Alvirne game also, everyone just looked at each other and laughed. They did a lot of those. Stuff about the NHIAA during timeouts, halftime, and whenever they possible could!LOL

I hear ya abball. I thought milk and cookies were going to passed out during these announcements or maybe a clown was going to come to center court and either offer face painting for the kids or make balloons into the shapes of animals.

Again....... too funny.

Hmmmm...maybe somebody from the NHIAA IS reading this forum.

Don't think it means anything now, but these how these teams matched up against each other during the season.

BG 3 WINS O LOSSES

TRINITY 2 WINS 1 LOSS

CENTRAL 1 WIN 2 LOSSES

ALVIRNE 0 WINS 3 LOSSES

I don't think regular season wins and losses mean a thing any more. Each of the four teams left are probably very different from when they played each other during the regular season - certainly more battle tested if nothing else. They have all shown they are more than capable of going all the way. It's going to come down to the team that can stay most relaxed and avoid major mistakes in each contest. Right now, that very well could be Alvirne - they are playing with "house money" and have certainly shown they can execute down the stretch when the pressure's on - back to back last second wins on opposing floors in Merrimack and Memorial have shown that. BG, Trinity and Central as the 1,2 and 4 seeds going in have shown all year they have what it takes to be in the semi's and are capable of taking the championship. It should be a great night of games that's for sure!

I agree with you, like I said before "all bets are off" once you get to Durham. One slight advantage BG might have is that BG was here last year. McClung, and Green started. Physoca,Cuipa, Remillard, and Kelly all got good minutes in that "almost comeback" against Winnie. McClung and Green have been waiting a year to show people last year's performance was an abberation.

GNG wrote: Don't think it means anything now, but these how these teams matched up against each other during the season.

BG 3 WINS O LOSSES

TRINITY 2 WINS 1 LOSS

CENTRAL 1 WIN 2 LOSSES

ALVIRNE 0 WINS 3 LOSSES

So should we underestimate Alvirne again?

ever again