Last year, Dave Chase and Matt Regan coached against each other in the Division III semifinals. Last night, they matched up on a D-I court.
Chase is in his first year as the head coach for the Concord boys’ basketball team after 13 years as the head man for the Hopkinton boys. Regan is in his first year at Bishop Guertin after seven years at Pelham, where he guided the Pythons to the last two D-III titles – the 2016 crown coming after a win against Chase’s Hopkinton team in the semis.
On Friday night Regan’s team got the better of Chase’s team once again as BG (1-0) pulled out a 52-48 overtime win at Concord (1-2).
“I thought defensively we played pretty well and I’m happy with the effort,” Chase said. “Offensively, we’re a little inept right now, having a hard time getting guys in rhythm. But give (Bishop Guertin) credit. They executed some plays and they defended pretty well.”
Chase and the Crimson Tide have been focused on defense during the early season, and that’s also what’s happening at Guertin.
“We’re both working on the same thing, the defensive end of the floor,” Regan said. “I watched Concord play Bedford (an 89-57 loss in the season opener) and at Trinity (a 64-48 win on Tuesday) and then tonight, and their defense has improved a ton, so you can see that’s something Dave is focused on, and he’s always been a good defensive coach.”
The Tide’s defense stood tall in the final 40 seconds of regulation as Concord forced BG to miss three shots in those last ticks before overtime.
Of course the last step to any successful defensive stand is a rebound, and the Tide couldn’t get one of those as the Cardinals kept getting chances. That entire final sequence started after BG grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw, a cardinal sin for any team with lofty defensive aspirations.
After missing three straight to end regulation, BG hit the first shot from the floor in overtime as Patrick Donovan (game-high 19 points) drained a 3. Neither team would make another field goal for the rest of the four-minute extra session.
The Cardinals opened up a 49-44 lead after four straight free throws between Donovan and Yanis Nyantengi (seven points, 10 rebounds). But BG went on a 1-for-4 skid from the line after that while Concord’s John Kalisz (nine points, all free throws) went 4-for-4, and the Tide found itself with the ball and trailing by just two, 50-48, with 30 seconds left on the clock.
Matt Giroux, Concord’s leading scorer for the last two years who finished with a team-high 16 points Friday night, started that last possession by driving into the paint. Once he got there, the BG defense was waiting with lots of help, just like it was all night.
“I’ve only watched (Giroux) for two games, but I know he can shoot it,” Regan said.
“Every defense we play against is denying me the ball and doubling, but that’s no excuse as to why we didn’t win the game,” Giroux said. “We’ve got to find a way to play around it.”
Giroux dumped the ball to sophomore Tyler Bruns (13 points, eight rebounds), who swung it to an open Tyler Blodgett behind the arc. Blodgett passed on the potential game-winning 3-pointer, and it was hard to blame him. The Tide didn’t connect on a single 3 all night.
Instead, Blodgett took it to the rim, where he was swallowed up and his shot was blocked by the waiting BG defense. Blodgett nearly saved the ball, but Guertin wound up with possession and Joe Hyatt (eight points) hit two free throws with :06.1 left to seal the win.
“I’m very happy with the defense. I watched Concord light the nets on fire against Trinity, so I thought we did a good job sitting on their offense and rebounding,” Regan said.
After going 0-18 two years ago and 3-15 last season, being 2-1 going into the annual Concord Area Holiday Basketball Tournament at NHTI next week would have felt pretty good for the Tide. But Concord will have to settle for 1-2 and feeling hopeful about the future.
“Our confidence is a lot higher this year and we’re playing more as a team,” Bruns said. “We felt like we really should have won this game, and we could have won it if we just played a little tougher.”
Coe-Brown 50, Souhegan 43
Key players: Coe-Brown – Sam Lupinacci (17 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals), Mike Mulligan (10 points, 5 rebounds), Scott Spenard (9 points), Brody Ashley (7 points), Shawn Spenard (6 points, 6 rebounds), Jacob Snow (6 rebounds), Dylan Andrews (6 rebounds)
Highlights/key moments: The Bears played strong defense, making up for foul trouble in the first half, and led 21-16 at halftime. Souhegan took the lead a couple times in the third quarter, but Mulligan scored five of his 10 points in the fourth quarter to give the Bears the win in the end.
Coach’s quote: “We were able to take care of business in the fourth quarter, but Souhegan played hard in the second half. Our defensive tempo was the difference in the game.” – Coe-Brown’s Dave Smith
Records: Coe-Brown 1-1; Souhegan 0-3
Bishop Guertin 61, Concord 19
Key players: Concord – Gabby Evans (8 points, 6 rebounds), Brighid Weeden (5 points)
Highlights/key moments: The Cardinals came out strong with a combination of press defense and hot shooting to build a 27-0 lead after the first quarter and the Tide could never get the game back on track.
Coach’s quote: “BG overwhelmed us is in the beginning of the game and we were not able to respond tonight. If we want to be able to compete with the top teams, we need a do a much better job of maintaining our composure.” – Concord’s Mike Achilles
Records: Bishop Guertin 3-1; Concord 2-2
Hanover 53, John Stark 47
Key players: John Stark – Jillian Douzanis (24 points), Chelsea Woodsume (8 points)
Highlights/key moments: John Stark trailed by six at halftime, but Hanover domianted the second half, outscoring the Generals, 25-11.
Coach’s quote: “We continue to play well for 20-25 minutes. Our 7-12 minute lapses really hurt our chances of winning – rebounding being our number one Achilles heel.” – John Stark’s Don Poitras
Records: Hanover 2-1; John Stark 1-3
Concord 7, Man. Central 0
Key players: Concord – Erin Doherty (2 goals), Maddy Farrelly (goal, assist), Sarah Moring (2 assists), Shannon Prospert (goal), Nicole Jones (goal), Jill Dusseault (goal), Emily Forward (goal), Olivia Branch (assist), Lilly Vezina (assist), Maddy Audet (4 saves)
Highlights/key moments: Using a balanced attack, the Tide took a 5-0 first period lead and earned its first win of the season. Concord finished with six different scorers
Records: Concord 1-2; Central 0-4
Meet at Dartmouth
Key players: Concord – Nte Hillyer (3rd high jump), Matt O’Brien (7th 3,000), Josh Adams (8th 600), Manny Feliz (7th long jump, 11th 55 hurdles), 4×400 (3rd), 4×200 (6th); Kearsarge – Andrew Shepherd (6th 1,500), Carl Betz (7th 600); Franklin – Chandler Glover (tied 9th high jump), CJ Gaslin (12th shot put); Winnisquam – Scott Hinds (12th 300); Bishop Brady – Sean Sullivan (13th shot put)
Highlights/key moments: Strong finishes from the Tide relays and a third-place finish from Hillyer lifted Concord to sixth place in a meet with over 20 teams from D-I, D-II and Vermont. Pinkerton (92) ran away with the meet followed by St. Johnsbury Academy, Vermont (50), Trinity (32), Winnacunnet (24), Hanover (17.5) and the Tide (14). Kearsarge tied for 15th with one point from Shepherd. Bishop Brady, Franklin and Winnisquam competed but did not score.
Meet at Dartmouth
Key players: Kearsarge – Cerys Wheatley (7th high jump); Concord – Sarah Zarakotas (9th 1,000), Hannah Moses (tied 10th high jump), Ennosen Yen (11th long jump, 16th 55 dash), Maggie Whitcomb (12th 1,500); Franklin – Lindsey Borges (15th 55 hurdles), Sydney Erickson (16th 55 hurdles); Winnisquam – Socorra Summers (10th 55 hurdles), Jasmine Piper (15th 1,000)
Highlights/key moments: Concord, Bishop Brady, Franklin, Kearsarge and Winnisquam competed in a meet with over 20 schools from D-I, D-II and Vermont. No local teams scored. Wheatley finished seventh in the high jump, just one place shy of scoring. Pinkerton (59), Oyster River (55.5) and Bishop Guertin (53) were the top three teams.
Belmont first
Key players: Belmont – Nick Galambos (6th giant slalom), Lars Major (7th GS), Kaleb Brown (10th GS), Adam Sojka (11th GS); Concord – Shane Hyland (4th GS, 5th slalom), Sean McDonough (3rd slalom, 8th GS), Aidan Macwhinnie (9th GS), Cole Gorham (14th GS); Bishop Brady – Garrett Cahill (1st GS), Danny Bryck (2nd slalom, 3rd GS), Maxwell Marinace (18th GS), Daniel Kelly (31st GS); Gilford – Tyler Hanf (4th slalom, 5th GS), Colton Workman (19th GS), Adam Donnelly (27th GS), Brendon Bergman (32nd GS); Laconia – Thomas Turpin (1st slalom, 2nd GS), Brad Weeks (12th GS)
Highlights/key moments: Bishop Brady had two of the top three finishers, including individual winner Garrett Cahill (combined time of 1:10.82 on two giant slalom runs), but Belmont placed four skiers in the top 11 to win an eight-team meet at Bretton Woods on Thursday. The Raiders (370) narrowly topped Concord (369) and ousted Bishop Brady (355), White Mountains (337), Gilford (328), Moultonborough (315) and Prospect Mountain (301). Laconia competed, but did not have enough skiers to score. No team scores were kept in the slalom race, but Turpin had a strong day for Laconia, winning the slalom and finishing second in the giant slalom.
Bishop Brady first
Key players: Bishop Brady – Silvia Caldesi (1st slalom, 4th giant slalom), Kamryn Compton (7th GS), Sara Lopresti (11th GS), Sarah Vermette (15th GS); Concord – Grace Devanny (5th slalom, 6th GS), Sophia Shea (9th GS), Ella Fabozzi (10th GS), Lily Desgroseillers (12th GS); Belmont – Katie Gagnon (2nd GS, 2nd slalom), Becca Camire (16th GS), Keegan Berry (25th GS), Abby Camire (29th GS); Gilford – Jenny Hancock (3rd GS, 4th slalom), Nicole Dagneault (23rd GS), Hannah Lord (28th GS), Lucy Jude (54th GS); Laconia – Nicole Turpin (18th GS)
Highlights/key moments: Caldesi finished fourth in the giant slalom, leading the Giants to a first-place tie in an eight-team meet at Bretton Woods on Thursday. Bishop Brady and White Mountains tied with 368 points, narrowly topping third-place Concord (367). Belmont (338), Moultonborough (334), Gilford (324), Prospect Mountain (307.5) and Laconia (no score) rounded out the competition. No team scores were kept in the slalom, but Caldesi was the individual winner.