PENACOOK – As each quarter passed, the deficit grew larger.
Desperately trying to claw its way back into Tuesday night’s Division II showdown against Pembroke, the Merrimack Valley boys’ basketball team instead dug a deeper hole and watched as a game that was well within reach at halftime quickly got away from the Pride.
Behind 19 points from junior forward Shea Shackford and 18 points for senior guard Sean Menard, the Spartans never let up. Pembroke (6-1) led by three after the first quarter, bumped that advantage up to nine points by halftime and used a 20-2 run late in the second half to take a 12-point lead into the fourth and eventually topple the Pride, 49-32.
“It was a nice win to come here and beat a team at their place that was 6-1, and we did it pretty handily,” Pembroke coach Rich Otis said. “Guys just kept stretching (out the lead), stretching it out, stretching it out until there was enough distance in between us. (Merrimack Valley) is a good club. They just didn’t shoot the ball very well tonight.”
There was plenty of anticipation for the contest as both programs entered the night near the top of D-II with only one loss apiece. But the Pride (6-2) was off from the very start, posting a season-low in offensive production with 32 points – well below the team’s average of 52 points per game.
“We were never in the game from the get-go. It just wasn’t our night,” MV coach Tim Mucher said. “There was no intensity out there. The aggressive style we’ve been playing, we didn’t show that tonight, which is very uncharacteristic.”
A big reason for MV’s offensive struggles was Pembroke’s ability to remove imposing big man Kyle Dube from the equation.
Dube, the Pride’s leading scorer on the season, was limited to two first-half points and finished the night with four as the Spartans made life difficult for the junior in the post.
“Anytime he posts, we want to try and front him in the post. We want help from the back and if he does get it, we want to try and run two people at him,” Otis said. “He did a good job out of the post a couple times, got the ball out and Dillon McCarthy really hurt us in the first half knocking down some 3s.”
McCarthy was the lone bright spot for the Pride, connecting on four 3-pointers to score 12 of the team’s 17 first-half points and finish with 22 for the game. But as Merrimack Valley continued to struggle as a team without an effective Dube, Pembroke made the most of its chances while its own star player dealt with a cold shooting night.
Senior guard Noah Cummings finished with four points, but was aided by huge performances from teammates Shackford and Menard.
Shackford splashed in three 3s and scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the first half to carry the load offensively for the Spartans. And then he handed the baton off to Menard, who scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, including a jumper and an assist to Shackford with 5:07 to play in the fourth, highlighting a 20-2 run that gave Pembroke its largest lead of the night, 48-25.
“Noah’s been struggling with a cold here the last couple of days, so the reason why he didn’t play that well I would assume is he didn’t feel that well,” Otis said of Cummings. “But between Shea, Sean, Jack (Lehoullier) and Timmy (Pitman), I truly believe we have four or five kids on any given night that could put 20 points on the board. If they concentrate on Noah, those other guys can really stroke the basketball.”
Merrimack Valley has now sandwiched a pair of losses around a six-game winning streak and will certainly be asked to bounce back quickly on the road against Lebanon Friday night.
“I think the kids have a better understanding that they’re playing for the name on the front of the jersey and not on the back and Friday’s game is a bigger game than this one tonight,” Mucher said. “We’re going to see how we respond as a team Friday.”
(Jay McAree can be reached at 369-3371, jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)
Boys’ basketball
Concord 55, Trinity 45
Key players: Concord – Scott Lampron (19 points), Rylan Canabano (15 points, 7 steals, 7 assists), Tyler Bruns (8 points, 11 rebounds)
Highlights: The Crimson Tide was cold early and trailed, 25-19, at the half. But Concord found its offense in the third, taking a 37-35 lead after three and finishing strong for the win in Manchester.
Records: Concord 4-2; Trinity 3-3
Bow 46, Kingswood 38
Key players: Bow – Matt Lamy (12 points), Nick Kiah (11 points), Shaun Lover (9 points)
Highlights: After being down 10 at half, Bow outscored Kingswood 16-5 in the third and held on for the road win. After losing their first five, the Falcons have now won back-to-back games.
Coach’s quote: “We had another slow start offensively tonight, so we really had to crank up the pressure in the third quarter. Steven Guerette was outstanding in our press and helped turn the game around with his defense. It’s great that we are learning how to win these tough games.” – Bow’s Frank Moreno
Records: Bow 2-5; Kingswood 1-6
Pelham 71, John Stark 42
Key players: John Stark – Aaron Bergeron (8 points)
Highlights: Pelham pressured Stark’s guards, creating havoc, forcing turnovers and handing the Generals their fourth home loss of the season.
Records: John Stark 2-4; Pelham 6-2
Winnisquam 47, Prospect Mtn. 36
Key players: Winnisquam – Kyle Mann (19 points), Gunnar Horman (8 points), Philip Nichols (8 points), Angelo Glover (7 points)
Highlights: The Bears allowed just three points in the first quarter and took a 22-10 lead into halftime in Alton.
Coach’s quote: “To hold a team to 10 points in a half is pretty good. The way we played defense in the first half was the story.” – Winnisquam’s Kevin Dame
Records: Winnisquam 3-4; Prospect Mtn. 1-6
Franklin 53, Newfound 52
Key players: Franklin – T.J. Laramie (28 points), C.J. Gaslin (9 points), Ben Lafrance (9 points) Taichi Chiba (great defense); Newfound – Mason Dalphonse 22
Highlights: The Tornadoes trailed the entire game, but won it at the buzzer on an offensive rebound and putback from Laramie.
Coach’s quote: “We beat Newfound by 24 on opening night but this was by far a much improved team. They were on a mission to beat us and they were the whole game until the last 31 seconds. I am so proud of my boys. Never once did they stop trying. Laramie was a beast tonight. He played his best game and it made the difference.” – Franklin’s Michael Donnell
Records: Franklin 3-5; Newfound 0-8
Campbell 66, Hopkinton 56
Key players: Hopkinton – Kevin Newton-Delgado (17 points), Shepard Murdough (11 points), Caleb Yianakopolos (10 points), Daniel Miner (9 points), Michael Baer (8 points); Campbell – Carter Vedrani (23 points), Brendan Rice (11 points), Jonah Crema (11 points)
Highlights: Hopkinton built an early one-point lead in this battle of unbeatens, but the Hawks struggled to score in the second quarter and trailed by 11 at halftime. Hopkinton got back into the game in the third, but Campbell made its free throws in the fourth to seal the win.
Coach’s quote: “Despite the loss, I saw a lot of great things we did tonight. We missed a lot of opportunities and will continue to work to improve throughout the season.” – Hopkinton’s Stephen Signor
Records: Campbell 7-0; Hopkinton 7-1
Concord 54, Trinity 13
Key players: Concord – Elizabeth Blinn (10 points), Caroline Clark (9 points), Quinn Daniels (7 points), Jordyn Lengle (7 points)
Highlights: Concord jumped out to an early lead, led by an aggressive defensive attack that created fast break opportunities and held Trinity to just six points in the first half.
Coach’s quote: “Incredible team win. Our girls are playing with confidence, they are playing hard, and they are great teammates.” – Concord’s Tim LaTorra
Records: Concord 3-6; Trinity 1-8
Merrimack Valley 57, Pembroke 37
Key players: Merrimack Valley – Carly Huckins (25 points), Lauren Pettingill (7 points), Mackenzie MacDonald (6 points, 6 rebounds); Pembroke – Maria Lamontagne (8 points), Lauren Lehouiller (9 points)
Highlights: The Spartans led by one after the first quarter, 8-7, but the Pride turned things around after that, taking a 27-18 lead into halftime and increasing the margin in the second half in Pembroke.
Coach’s quote: “Good team win tonight. Everyone contributed both offensively and defensively. I thought the girls played hard and played for 32 minutes.” – MV’s Bob McNutt
Records: Merrimack Valley 6-4; Pembroke 2-7
John Stark 43, ConVal 34
Key players: John Stark – Chelsea Woodsum (19 points, 4 steals); Autumn Nelson (13 points, 4 steals, great defense); ConVal – Lindsey Carey (12 points)
Highlights: After falling behind, 11-1, to open the game, the Generals fought back to tie things up, 19-19, by halftime. Stark then held the Cougars to just two points in the third quarter and went 11-for-12 from the free-throw line in the fourth to seal the road win.
Coach’s quote: “It was a very good team win and our foul shooting continues to be very good, going 19-for-24 for the game. We executed very well tonight.” – John Stark’s Bruce Johnson
Records: John Stark 7-1; ConVal 5-3
Coe-Brown 46, Spaulding 45
Key players: Coe-Brown – Valentina White (22 points), Angelina Rene (12 points, 10 rebounds), Lauren Curtin (4 points, 7 rebounds)
Highlights: Spaulding led most of the way, but White hit a 3 with 20 seconds left to cut that lead to one. Then, Kirin Asselin forced a turnover that caromed to White, who laid in a left-handed layup for the lead with eight seconds to go. Spaulding could not get up a final shot against Coe-Brown’s defense.
Coach’s quote: “To Spaulding’s credit, they just wanted it more in the first half. This team has now shown itself twice what it’s capable of doing. It just needs to put it all together. ” – Coe-Brown’s Joe Vachon
Records: Coe-Brown 4-3; Spaulding 3-4
Bow 45, Kingswood 19
Key players: Bow – Julia Landcastle, Lindsey Burnham
Highlights: Bow upped its intensity and defensive pressure in the second half to run away with the win at home.
Records: Bow 4-5; Kingswood 1-8
Newfound 60, Franklin 32
Key players: Franklin – Fayth Kaspszak (8 points), Clarissa Martin (7 points), Raquel McCoy (7 points)
Coach’s quote: “The girls played hard and some good things happened, but we have to continue to improve our shooting.” – Franklin’s JJ Winters
Records: Newfound 7-3; Franklin 3-7
Kearsarge second
Key players: Kearsarge – Aiden Markoff (1st overall), Matthew Noyer (7th), Seth Rutledge-Davis (10th), Patrick Lee (11th); Bishop Brady – Jackson Bemis (23rd), Max Marinace (26th); Hillsboro-Deering – Jack Bachand (51st)
Highlights: Kearsarge’s Markoff had the fastest time in both runs to finish first overall in the individual standings, but Derryfield put four skiers in the top six to finish first as a team with 389 points at this giant slalom event at Mount Sunapee. The Cougars wound up with 377 team points to take second. Bishop Brady was fifth with 319.5 points, a mere 0.5 point behind White Mountains. H-D, which only had three skiers in an event where the top four score, was 11th with 192 points.
Kearsarge first
Key players: Kearsarge – Jocelyn Young (2nd overall), Brie Von Beren (6th), Elizabeth Greason (9th), Isabella Greason (10th); Bishop Brady – Grace Bemis (24th), Sydney Sigua (33rd); Hillsboro-Deering – Chloe Braun (42nd)
Highlights: Kearsarge took first place as a team at this two-run giant slalom meet at Mount Sunapee with 377 points, beating out Gilford by just three points. Bishop Brady had 296 points to finish seventh in the 12-team field. Hillsobro-Deering (264 points) was ninth.