There isn’t much any opponent has been able to do to slow down Kearsarge’s Tayler Mattos this season. At 6-foot-7, he has the size, strength and smarts inside that coaches dream about and the soft touch, speed and ball handling skills of a player much smaller in stature.
All that was on full display on Wednesday night.
Mattos compiled 28 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks in a dominate performance, carrying the Cougars into the Capital Area Holiday Tournament championship with a hard-earned 67-60 victory over Bishop Brady in the semifinals at the Dr. Goldie Crocker Wellness Center at NHTI.
“I think he’s proven that he’s one of the best big men in the state,” Kearsarge Coach Nate Camp said moments after eliminating the two-time defending holiday tournament champion Green Giants. “There is a lot of talent in the Concord area that you’re seeing this week, but a lot of schools are having a hard time figuring out how to play him. He’s a matchup nightmare.”
The duo of Mattos and teammate Tom Johnson (23 points) was enough to lead the Cougars into the opening minutes of the fourth quarter with a 19-point lead, but that cushion didn’t last. Brady, which had scored 28 points through the first three quarters, rallied for 32 in the fourth, and even cut the deficit to three with under a minute left before falling shy of reaching the championship for the third consecutive year.
“I have a lot of respect for them. Great job, great team, they’re well coached and I knew that they weren’t going to go away,” Camp said.”
“We didn’t quit,” added Brady Coach Cole Etten. “You could see we were down in the fourth and we fought our way back into the game.”
After Kearsarge cruised to leads of six and 10 after the first two quarters, respectively, the Cougars continued to pour it on in the third. Despite, constant double, and even triple teams at times on Mattos, the junior still couldn’t be stopped, either drawing fouls or moving the ball to an open teammate.
“I know that it’s tough for all the other teams in our league to guard me, but every game I’m just trying to do that no matter who’s on the court,” Mattos said. “When they double team me, I can sometimes still finish, but then I like to facilitate things and distribute, too.”
In the fourth, Brady began to chip away. The Giants used a 9-0 run to shrink the lead to 10 and cut it to single digits at the three-minute mark on a shifty move from Matt Quirk (22 points) to the basket. Brady, which went 0-for-5 from deep in the first half, shot 50 percent from beyond the arc in the second, including two clutch 3’s from Bryce Johnson (25 points) that made it a three-point game.
The only thing standing in the way of Brady and a tremendous comeback was free throws. With Kearsarge in the bonus to start the quarter, the Giants needed a few misses at the charity stripe. Instead, Kearsarge went 18-for-21 from the foul line in the fourth, including a perfect 8-for-8 showing for Mattos.
“Between him (Mattos) and Johnson down the stretch, and (Joe) Storozuk, who made some big free throws, that’s where the ball needs to go,” Camp said. “They’ve won a lot of games with us and they’ve got that in their DNA.”
Kearsarge will now turn its attention towards Concord and the championship game on Friday night as the Cougars search for their first-ever Capital Area Holiday Tournament title.
“We’ve had some good teams come down here but we’ve never played in a championship so it’s nice,” Camp said. “I’m really proud of these guys and we’re not done yet.”
BOYS’ BASKETBALL
Concord 62, Hopkinton 51
Key players: Concord – Matt Giroux (23 points, 3-for-3 from 3-point range, 4 rebounds), Tyler Blodgett (14 points, 4 rebounds), Tyler Bruns (10 points, 5 rebounds); Hopkinton – Henry Yianakopolos (14 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals)
Highlights/key moments: The Tide held a 33-13 halftime lead en route to a victory over the Hawks.
Coach’s quote: “Bruns played one of the best defensive games of the season. He was the difference in this game.” – Concord’s Dave Chase
Bow 65, Pembroke 57, 2OT
Key players: Bow – Nate Alford (24 points, 12 rebounds), Will Holmes (10 points); Pembroke – Jake Sherman (22 points, 4 rebounds), Sean Menard (17 points)
Highlights/key moments: The Falcons overcame a 33-25 halftime deficit to force overtime and gutted out a double-overtime victory.
Coach’s quote: “ It was a great way for us to bounce back. It was really important for us to rebound.” – Bow’s Chris Gaudreau
John Stark 44, MV 26
Key players: John Stark – Parker McQuarrie (13 points, 12 rebounds)
Highlights/key moments: The Generals rebounded from a tough opening round loss to defeat the Pride.
Coe-Brown 56, Conant 46
Key players: Coe-Brown – Sam Lupinacci (29 points, 5 rebounds), Scott Spenard (11 points), Mike Mulligan (10 points), Shawn Spenard (4 points, 5 rebounds)
Highlights/key moments: The Bears trailed 14-2 after the first quarter, but tied the game at halftime and built a 43-40 lead after three to secure third-place at the Keene State College Holiday Tournament.
Coach’s quote: “We had a great defensive effort after the first quarter. That was the difference in the game.” – Coe-Brown’s Dave Smith
Inter-Lakes 62, Pittsfield 54
Key players: Pittsfield – Casey Clark (14 points), Matt St. George (11 points), Gabe Anthony (10 points)
Highlights/key moments: Clark buried four 3 pointers in the first half, but a sloppy third quarter gave I-L a 10-point lead. St. George and Anthony combined for 17 of Pittsfield’s 19 fourth quarter points, but the Panthers couldn’t make up the deficit in Tuesday’s Mike Holiday Bash tournament game.
Coach’s quote: “We did a great job in transition and finding the open man. We did not fare so well on the defensive boards.” – Pittsfield’s Jay Darrah
Bishop Brady 55, MV 43
Key players: Bishop Brady – Sam Will (15 points, 9 rebounds), Cait Mallahan (12 points, 7 rebounds), Riley Bennett (11 points, 3 assists), Lauren Roy (10 points, 6 rebounds); MV – Carly Huckins (15 points, 7 rebounds), Abby Grandmaison (13 points, 9 rebounds)
Highlights/key moments: The Giants used a strong start to propel themselves to a semifinal victory.
Coach’s quote: “We came out with strong focus from the start. We played within ourselves and in our system.” – Bishop Brady’s Annie Alosa
Pembroke 55, Bow 40
Key players: Pembroke – Brooklyn Zanis (18 points), Morgan Allen (12 points, 11 rebounds) ; Bow – Taylor Darrell (12 points)
Highlights/key moments: The Spartans defeated the Falcons to advance to the championship game.
WRESTLING
Concord fourth at George Bossi Holiday Tournament
Key players: Concord – George Tarwo (1st 182), Chris Munnell (2nd 160), Ben Widmann (6th 138)
Highlights/key moments: Tarwo won his weight class and Munnell finished second, leading the Tide to fourth-place at the 75-team George Bossi Holiday Tournament in Lowell, Mass. against the best teams from across New England. Tarwo beat an All-New England wrestler, 4-3 in the final.
Coach’s quote: “It was ok, the kids who did really well did really well. Some kids didn’t do as well as we wanted, but the kids wrestled hard and they wrestled tough.” – Concord’s Ham Munnell
Hanover 1, Concord 0
Key players: Concord – Griff Gilbert (21 saves)
Highlights/key moments: The Tide gave up a first period goal in its final game of the Manchester Holiday Tournament.
Coach’s quote: “We competed hard in a very physical game.” – Concord’s Dunc Walsh
Pembroke-Campbell 3,
Nashua South-Pelham 3, OT
Key players: Pembroke Campbell – Nate Lamontagne (unassisted goal), Jayden Lamy (goal), Mathew Tremblay (goal), Mattieux Tremblay (51 saves)
Highlights/key moments: Pembroke-Campbell opened the scoring right away with goals from Lamontaine and Lamy to make it 2-0. South-Pelham tied the game at 2 before the end of the first period. Tremblay’s goal 1:10 into the third made it 3-2 but South-Pelham tied it again with 10:31 to play.
Coach’s quote: “This is a good group. It says a lot about these guys to play a Division I team and come out with a 3-3 tie.” – Pembroke-Campbell’s Marc Noel