MEREDITH – If you ask Ryan Kelly about his connection with Zach Swanson, he’ll be the first to tell you, “That’s my brother. It’s unlike any connection I’ve ever had before.”
If you ask Inter-Lakes boys’ basketball Coach Mike Rathgeber about it, he’ll tell you: “Zach and Ryan, you’re looking at six years of playing basketball together. So there’s a lot of chemistry there.”
And when Swanson was dishing out gratitude after scoring his 1,000th point in a 68-38 blowout win over Somersworth on Tuesday night, Kelly was the first name that came to Swanson’s mind.
“Me and Ryan have been playing sports together since fourth grade. Our chemistry is on another level,” he said.
The pair connected for plenty of touchdowns on the football field this season for a squad that played in its second straight Division III championship game. Kelly, the quarterback, and Swanson, the tight end.
“He’s my quarterback and I’m a tight end, and then he’s a guard and I’m a big in basketball, so he knows where I’m going to be before I’m even there with everything,” Swanson said.
Tuesday was no different as Kelly found Swanson open all night long, finishing with seven assists. But Swanson stole the show early on and didn’t relinquish his place in the spotlight, finishing with 28 points on 12 of 17 shooting and nine rebounds.
His biggest bucket of the night came with 2:25 left in the third quarter, about 6 feet out from the right block. It didn’t touch the rim, hitting nothing but net on the way down and giving way to loud cheers that took over the whole gym and momentarily stopped play.
“(The shot) felt pretty good coming out of my hand and when it went in, everyone just went crazy and that was that,” Swanson said of the shot that made him the ninth 1,000-point scorer in Lakers history. “All my work over the past four years, everything, all the offseason training, the AAU, everything just paid off right before my eyes. It was a fantastic feeling.”
He wasn’t the only one dealing with an overflow of emotions.
“I almost shed a tear when he hit that shot, I’m not going to lie,” said Kelly, who also finished with 11 points on 5 of 10 shooting and seven rebounds.
Once the fanfare surrounding Swanson’s accomplishment settled, it was back to business for the Lakers. And that’s just the way they wanted it.
“It takes a lot of pressure off my back. Now, we can really focus on what needs to be done this season to have the season we want to have,” Swanson said of getting the milestone out of the way early in his senior year.
Coach Rathgeber echoed that sentiment.
“We can move forward now. Anytime you have a kid approaching 1,000, everybody gets tense. They want to get it to him. And ironically, the way you get it to him is to just play the game,” he said. “But it’s behind us now. He’s eclipsed it. He deserves it. He’s earned it.”
The Hilltoppers (4-1) came into the meeting unbeaten, but Rathgeber’s squad was determined to not let them leave with that unblemished record.
“We were really worried about this game,” Rathgeber said. “They’ve been playing at a high level, playing well. Anytime you go up to Berlin and beat Berlin by 30-plus, you’re playing well. So we were prepared for a real grind-it-out game.”
But that’s not what they got. The Lakers (5-1), who led from wire to wire, opened the first quarter on a 14-4 run and held Somersworth scoreless for the first 2:20 of the game. Inter-Lakes led 40-19 at halftime.
“Clearly, it was the best basketball we’ve played all year. Especially defensively,” said Rathgeber, who watched his team force 18 turnovers – giving up just seven – and outrebound the Hilltoppers, 31-20.
“Seven turnovers for a high school team is extraordinarily low. It was just a good game and we just put it all together,” he said.
Inter-Lakes shot lights-out from the field in comparison to Somersworth, which posted a season low in points and had no players finish in double figures. Bryton Early and Tyler Clark scored seven points apiece for the Hilltoppers. Inter-Lakes finished the game with a field goal percentage of 55.7, while Somersworth shot just 31.8 percent from the field.
The Lakers – led by Swanson’s 28 and Kelly’s 11 – also got a solid effort from Eli Swanson (10 points, eight rebounds) and Logan Taylor (seven points).
“It was a huge win,” Swanson said. “They were undefeated coming into this one, so it’s definitely a good confidence booster for us. Signature win of the year so far, definitely.”
The Hilltoppers hit their first four shots of the second half to cut the lead to 41-28 but it wouldn’t get any closer than that. Swanson’s night ended with 4:46 left in the fourth quarter with his team leading, 64-31. He left the court to loud cheers from nearly everyone in attendance and hugged each of his teammates on the bench as he came off the court, ending with Rathgeber.
“It was just a great experience because I got to be around all the people who have supported me my entire life playing basketball,” said Swanson, who hopes to play Division III college football next year at the University of New England, Western New England College or Plymouth State.
Moving forward, Rathgeber was quick to remind his team that it’s still early in a long season.
“It’s only Jan. 3. We have eight weeks to go,” the coach said with a laugh. “It’s a great win. But we have a lot we haven’t accomplished yet. In the grand scheme of things, really, it’s just one more win. … We’ve got a lot we need to get better at if we want to play at SNHU (home for the D-III final four).”
Swanson was also quick to pull his teammates – and himself – back down to reality after an emotionally overwhelming night.
“I don’t want to knock anything from happening because you know, anything is possible,” he said, holding tightly to the game ball commemorating his milestone. “But I’d say our first goal is a top-four seed. After that, we need to take care of business (at home) in our playoff games. We didn’t do that last year so we need to do that. And then, step by step after that and hopefully we can get to a championship. But I’m not going to count those eggs too early.”
The one thing Swanson can count on is catching at least a few more passes thrown by Kelly before their careers come to an end together.
(Michelle Berthiaume can be reached at 369-3338, mberthiaume@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @MonitorMichelle.)
John Stark 50, ConVal 47, OT
Key players: John Stark – Drew McQuarrie (12 points, 15 rebounds), Parker McQuarrie (12 points, 8 rebounds), Cooper Gorski (9 points), Chase Patterson (9 points), Troy Gamache (6 points), Kyle Hagman (strong at point guard in OT)
Highlights/key moments: The Generals and Cougars were tied, 43-43, at the end of regulation, but Gamache and Hagman played well off the bench and Hagman led from the point in overtime to give John Stark the win. Patterson hit a free throw late in overtime and Gorski made a nice defensive play in the closing seconds to ice the win.
Coach’s quote: “It was really back-and-forth most of the night. We got some good buckets inside (in overtime).” – John Stark’s Mike Smith
Records: John Stark 2-1; ConVal 1-3
Pembroke 63, Goffstown 54
Key players: Pembroke – Noah Cummings (24 points), Sean Menard (23 points)
Highlights/key moments: Menard and Cummings made huge 3s down the stretch when the game was close to open up the Spartans’ lead.
Coach’s quote: “I’m really pleased with the mental toughness and grit the guys showed tonight.” – Pembroke’s Shannon Sciria
Records: Pembroke 2-2; Goffstown 1-2
Coe-Brown 66, Kennett 44
Key players: Coe-Brown – Brody Ashley (22 points), Sam Lupinacci (16 points, 8 rebounds), Shawn Spenard (10 points), Scott Spenard (8 points), Jacob Snow (4 points, 4 steals, 4 blocked shots)
Highlights/key moments: The Bears, sparked by Snow’s effort, played great defense all night long. Kennett hung tough with a well-played first half, and Coe-Brown led by just six, 26-20, at halftime. But the Bears’ offensive execution caught up with its defense in the second half as they pulled away for the road win.
Records: Coe-Brown 2-1; Kennett 0-4
Franklin 51, Monadnock 50
Key players: Franklin – Jayden Torres (18 points), Matt Hennessey (16 points), Corey Nelson (12 points)
Highlights/key moments: The Golden Tornadoes trailed by 11 points entering the fourth quarter, but rallied, outscoring the Huskies, 20-8, in the final frame.
Coach’s quote: “Today was a huge step in the right direction. Down six points in the fourth after calling a timeout the message was simple – this is why we work so hard. Be yourself, take the right shot and bring it home. Torres, Nelson and Hennessey were lights out in the fourth quarter. Holding (Monadnock’s) high-scorer Joe Monson to just eight points was huge.” – Franklin’s Michael Donnell
Records: Franklin 2-2; Monadnock 4-2
Kearsarge 76, Campbell 69
Key players: Kearsarge – Tayler Mattos (49 points, 21 rebounds, 10 blocks), Tom Johnson (21 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists), Joe Storozuk (6 rebounds, 6 assists, strong defense), Noah Tremblay (5-for-7 FT in 2nd half)
Highlights/key moments: Kearsarge had a huge night on both ends of the court from Mattos. Storozuk anchored the defense and the team made their free throws down the stretch as Kearsarge handed Campbell its first loss of the season. Led by Tremblay, Kearsarge went 22-for-29 from the foul line. Campbell cut the deficit to three points at one point in the fourth quarter.
Coach’s quote: “Storozuk was tremendous defensively and hustled all over the floor for us. It was a great road win.” – Kearsarge’s Nate Camp
Records: Kearsarge 3-2; Campbell 3-1
Coe-Brown 52, Kennett 45
Key players: Coe-Brown – Ahna McCusker (17 points), Kerry Riley (14 points), Chelsea McCallion (8 points), Shannon Riley (6 points)
Highlights/key moments: The Bears outscored the Eagles, 17-8, in the third quarter to take a 35-28 lead. Kennett hit a pair of 3s and Coe-Brown the front end of some one-and-one opportunities in the final two minutes, but the Bears hung on for the win.
Coach’s quote: “In the third quarter we started to really execute on offense. We really started to get some good looks and had some good looks in transition. That’s what made the difference.” – Coe-Brown’s Joe Vachon
Records: Coe-Brown 3-2; Kennett 1-3
Merrimack Valley 63, Laconia 58
Key players: MV – Carly Huckins (26 points, 3 rebounds), Abby Grandmaison (20 points, 11 rebounds); Laconia – Helen Tautkus (17 points), Abby Crowell (10 points), Megan Gaspa (9 points)
Highlights/key moments: The Pride’s three-quarter court press frustrated the Sachems in the fourth quarter and extended MV’s one-point lead to a 13-point lead with under three minutes to go. The Sachems cut the lead to five, but ran out of time.The Pride entered the fourth quarter with a 44-35 lead and led 35-30 at halftime.
Coaches’ quotes: “We need to put teams away and not let them back into the game. We were up twice by 18 and allowed them back in the game. Give Laconia credit though for working hard and not giving up. Hopefullly, we find a way to put 32 minutes together as an entire team soon.” – MV’s David Huckins
“I’m really proud of my girls’ effort, but we need to clean up the finer details, be able to hit free throws, and finish around the rim. When we put those pieces together, we will surprise a lot of teams.” – Laconia’s Jeff Greeley
Records: MV 5-0; Laconia 1-4
Monadnock 52, Franklin 17
Key players: Franklin – Zoe Kaplan (6 points)
Highlights/key moments: The Golden Tornadoes dropped a tough game at home to the undefeated Huskies
Coach’s quote: “We played well in the first quarter, but we struggled with our shooting and couldn’t get out of the funk.” – Franklin’s JJ Winters
Records: Monadnock 8-0; Franklin 2-5
Mascoma 26, H-D 14
Key players: H-D – Hannah Grimes (9 rebounds, 4 points), Melissa Veitch (4 points), Halie Hurd (4 points)
Highlights/key moments: Grimes controlled the boards and helped the Hillcats tie the Royals 10-10 at halftime, but Mascoma outscored H-D, 16-4, in the second half to secure the win.
Coach’s quote: “We lost that game off free throws tonight. The odds just weren’t in our favor to start the year.” – H-D’s Tiffany Lewis
Records: Mascoma 2-4; H-D 0-6
Sanborn 46, Hopkinton 41, OT
Key players: Hopkinton – Amelia Thomas (11 points), Abby Houston (8 points, 11 rebounds)
Highlights/key moments: The Indians shut out the Hawks in overtime to remain undefeated.
Coach’s quote: “We continue to grow and improve. The girls made an outstanding effort.” – Hopkinton’s Pat Roye
Records: Sanborn 5-0; Hopkinton 1-5