MEREDITH – The 30-point blowout that occurred the last time these two teams met was somewhat of an aberration. It was a regular-season game back in January and the Inter-Lakes boys’ basketball team had just about everything line up in their favor.
Somersworth’s leading scorer, Bryton Early, got himself in foul trouble; standout guard Evan Gray did not even play in the game; the long, athletic inside presence of Chance Ennis had yet to crack the starting lineup; and the Hilltoppers admittedly played their worst game of the season.
On Saturday night, the tides changed. Early and Gray combined for 24 points, Ennis delivered nine points and caused havoc inside the Toppers’ 2-3 zone and No. 5 Somersworth (17-3) marched into Meredith and handed No. 4 Inter-Lakes a 63-58 loss in the quarterfinal round of the NHIAA Division III tournament.
“There were a lot of things going on that night that favored us. … They weren’t quite organized yet and there were a lot of things that night that favored us that did not favor us tonight,” Inter-Lakes Coach Mike Rathgeber said. “You get to the quarterfinals and it’s really anybody’s game. A four (seed) playing a five (seed), it’s anybody’s game … We were fortunate enough to have the head-to-head tiebreaker to get it at home, we thought that would be an advantage and it turns out it wasn’t.”
While Lakers big man Zach Swanson was his usual self – scoring 27 points to finish his career tied with Mike Roy as the school’s all-time leading scorer at 1,335 points – the rest of the team fell a bit flat on the big stage. Inter-Lakes shot just 5-for-21 from the 3-point line, including uncharacteristically poor shooting nights for Ryan Kelly (13 points, 4 of 11 from 3), Logan Taylor (nine points, 0-for-3 from 3) and Eli Swanson (four points, 0-for-5 from 3).
Kelly salvaged his night late in the contest, nearly sending the building into a frenzy when he buried a pair of ridiculous 3-pointers in the contest’s final 25 seconds that cut Somersworth’s lead from eight points to just three. But Ennis grabbed a rebound off a missed free throw and put it back in to seal the victory on the final play.
“I definitely wish it would have ended in a win or something because coming off Thursday, I had five or six 3s so I was feeling good that night and I just wasn’t focused tonight,” Kelly said. “I wasn’t making my shots. It came down to the wire and I made a few, but I didn’t make enough.”
Even Rathgeber admitted that riding the hot hand from deep to break up Somersworth’s zone might not have been the best decision.
“I’m guilty. I wanted to play the hot hand. I always do,” Rathgeber said, “It’s our gym, it’s our nets. We lit it up three days ago so let’s shoot our way out of the zone and it was a bad choice on my part. I own it. I got no problem with that.”
Still, thanks to Swanson’s offensive rebounding skills and ability to score inside through double teams and contact, the Lakers turned an eight-point halftime deficit into a 47-all tie in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Toppers didn’t blink, though. Somersworth created turnovers and diced up the Lakers’ zone for easy layups over the next three minutes en route to a 9-0 run that swung the game in its favor.
“We went through it before. We went through it in our last game against Conant and one of the biggest knocks against this team across the league is they’re not mentally tough,” Somersworth Coach Rob Fauci said. “But in all honesty, as the year’s progressed they’ve definitely figured it out.”
There haven’t been many losses for Kelly and the Lakers over the past two seasons, evident by their 37-9 record, but this one stung for the home team.
“Probably No. 1, at least top three,” Kelly said when asked where Saturday’s loss ranked among the worst he’s experienced. “We were way better than this and it shouldn’t have been this way. We just didn’t execute.”
Somersworth will move on and face an even stiffer test in the semifinals, where it will square off with top-seeded Kearsarge for the first time this season on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Southern New Hampshire University.
(Jay McAree can be reached at 369-3340, jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)
D-III BOYS’ BASKETBALL
No. 1 Kearsarge 79,
No. 8 Campbell 67
Key players: Kearsarge – Tom Johnson (46 points, 19-for-19 from FT line, 7 rebounds, 3 assists), Tayler Mattos (18 points, 15 rebounds, 5 blocks), Joe Storozuk (6 points, 4 rebounds), Kyle Hernon (6 points, 6 rebounds), Jordan Bryk (defense and rebounding), Ray Critch (defense and rebounding), Noah Tremblay (defense and rebounding)
Highlights/key moments: Needing only 22 points to make it 1,000 in his career, Johnson scored his 1,000th point toward the end of his first half and led his team in a near-perfect night at the charity stripe to lead Kearsarge or Campbell in the quarterfinals in North Sutton. Kearsarge took a 20-11 lead after the first quarter, a 41-27 lead at halftime and 55-43 heading into the final frame. Kearsarge only had four field goals in the fourth quarter, but iced the game with free throws down the stretch. Kearsarge will play No. 5 Somersworth in Wednesday’s semifinal at SNHU.
Coach’s quote: “(Johnson) controlled the game. He had a great night to lead the team to victory. The difference in the game was that once we got into the bonus, as a team, we shot 30-for-31 from the foul line. For me, that was the difference. You don’t see that very often.” – Kearsarge’s Nate Camp
Records: Kearsarge 18-2; Campbell 14-6
No. 2 Hopkinton 34,
No. 7 Berlin 28
Key players: Hopkinton – Zachary Signor (9 points), Cam Cyr (9 points), Kevin McGrath (7 points), Henry Yianakopolos (defense), Liam Flanagan (defense), Tucker Windhurst (defense)
Highlights/key moments: The Hawks won its quarterfinal matchup with strong defense that held the Mountaineers to single digits in every quarter. Hopkinton outscored Berlin, 14-7, in the final frame to break the game open and earn a berth in Wednesday’s semifinal against No. 3 Stevens.
Coach’s quote: “I couldn’t be anymore proud of how well they played on defense. Our offense wasn’t hitting shots but holding them to 28 points kept us in the game until we made a few shots down the stretch.” – Hopkinton’s Stephen Signor
Records: Hopkinton 18-2; Stevens 15-5
No. 3 Stevens 72, No. 6 Belmont 65
Highlights/key moments: The Cardinals outplayed the Raiders in the post and were able to limit Belmont’s Trevor Hunt just enough to send Belmont out in the quarterfinals. Stevens held a slim 14-13 lead after the first quarter and extended it to 46-36 heading into the final frame.
Records: Stevens 17-3; Belmont 16-4