DURHAM - Souhegan left no doubt.

Ryan Townes consoles Zach Cherry after John Stark's Class I Championship loss to Souhegan. March 13, 2004 (Concord Monitor photo/Preston Gannaway) Zoom Purchase Photos Online

The Sabers defended their Class I boys'basketball title with a dominating 55-33 victory yesterday over John Stark at the University of New Hampshire's Lundholm Gym.

John Stark loses to Souhegan during the Class I Championship at UNH. March 13, 2004 (Concord Monitor photo/Preston Gannaway) Zoom Purchase Photos Online

"I think one of the things you appreciate after winning one championship is how lucky you are and how fortunate you are to get to one," Souhegan Coach Mike Facques said. "And that really drives you to get that second because you know what a great feeling it is for your players and for the community. So it's just as sweet, in a different way, than the first one."

The top-ranked Sabers (20-2) were undefeated last year and their two losses this season were both by just one point. Yesterday they played like a team that nearly won 44 straight games. Souhegan held No. 2 Stark (18-4) scoreless for more than nine minutes during the second and third quarters, allowed the Generals to shoot just 29 percent from the floor and limited Stark star Nick Drouin to just six points, all in the first quarter. But to be honest, a pair of early fouls stunted Drouin as much as the Sabers.

Souhegan forward Nick Pelletier drove at Drouin during the Sabers' first possession of the game, drawing the first foul on Drouin with just 38 seconds off the clock. Drouin answered with a pair of 3-pointers, the second giving Stark an 8-7 lead with 5:43 left in the first quarter. But less than a minute later, Drouin picked up his second foul fighting for a rebound and was forced to the bench, where he sat for nearly eight minutes. When he came back in with 5:15 to play in the half, Souhegan was up 25-16.

Perhaps Stark Coach Mike Smith should have brought Drouin back sooner, but it's been the coach's strategy all year to sit players with two fouls. He wasn't about to change the philosophy that brought the Generals to the finals.

"If (Drouin) picks up his third we can't use him for a long time," Smith said. "You can second guess it all the time, but a guy picks up his second you got to sit him for a little bit, so that's what we did."

When Drouin did return, John Bambrick and the rest of the Sabers were waiting for him. Bambrick, a 6-foot-2 forward, stymied Bishop Brady's small, quick point guard Adam Larkin in the semifinals. Yesterday, he showed his versatility by stopping Drouin. To be fair to Drouin, it wasn't just one man on him. All the Sabers had one eye on Drouin as they denied him the ball at every opportunity.

"John Bambrick did a great job on (Drouin)," Facques said. "But it was real good team defense with everyone helping out and knowing where he is and certainly when he got two fouls early that helped our cause."

"That was the best job anybody's done all year taking (Drouin) away,"Smith said.

While Souhegan clearly controlled the first half and led 31-18 at the break, the game wasn't completely out of Stark's reach at that point.

"I thought we were going to come back. It was 13 and I was kind of like 'Okay, it's just 13,'" Smith said.

It didn't take long for the Sabers to put the game out of reach.

Senior Greg Spaulding came up with a steal on the opening possession of the half and went coast to coast for a layup, sparking a 21-0 Souhegan run. While Souhegan's big men, Pelletier (12 points) and 6-7 sophomore Rich Lapham (15 points), have received most of the hype this year, it was Spaulding who was the offensive star yesterday. He finished with a game-high 18 points as he scored from 3-point land, on athletic slashes to the hoop and at the free throw line. Of course when you hold a team to just 18 points through almost three quarters of play like the Sabers did, you need very little offense.

"Particularly in the third, we played our best defense of the year,"Facques said.

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