The Hopkinton boys’ basketball team wasn’t even supposed to get this far. Once the Hawks were there, they weren’t expected to be that competitive.
Hopkinton (12-6) held the starters from defending co-champion Gilford (14-1) in check, executed its game plan, overcame a size disadvantage and even had the Eagles on the ropes for a while. But Gilford overcame a 13-point deficit to tie the game in the third quarter and made enough plays in the closing minutes to secure a 41-40 victory.
“Nobody thought we’d be in this one,” Hopkinton head coach Stephen Signor said. “And nobody thought it’d be this close of a battle. Everyone was saying, ‘Oh, the Gilford vs. Kearsarge semifinal will have the winner.’”
The key matchup entering Saturday night’s championship at Laconia High School was 6-foot-8 junior center Brendan Elrick against the height and athleticism of Gilford’s Reese brothers – 6-4 senior Malik (five points), 6-5 sophomore Jalen (eight points) and 6-2 freshman Isaiah (12 points) – but Elrick (12 points, four blocks) controlled the paint on both ends of the floor early on, scoring two quick baskets and getting a block, while junior guard Quinn Whitehead (14 points) had a steal and a layup off the fast break to give the Hawks a 6-0 lead to open the game and a 10-4 lead through the first quarter.
Owen Milchick (nine points) had a big 3 in the second quarter to extend the lead to nine points in the middle of the frame and Hopkinton led, 21-13, at halftime.
Senior guards John Jacobsen (six assists, two points, two steals) and Mike Oberheim (two assists, steal) and senior forwards Milchick and Thomas Hoffmann (three points) played well along the perimeter, forcing several Gilford turnovers and holding the Eagles to just four field goals in the first half, three from the Reese family.
“This was definitely the tallest team we’ve played all year,” Elrick said. “It was different to play them. Most teams were double or triple-teaming me, this game, they only had one marking me. Honestly, before the game it felt like we were going to be really outmatched. As the game went on, everybody was fighting for rebounds. We made up for our lack of size with effort.”
“We did a nice job with their starters the entire game,” Signor said. “We did what we needed to do. Brendan was huge inside. He held them in check. (The Reese brothers) are typically averaging double-digits and we kept them far below their average which was good to see. John did a good job getting (Gilford guard) Riley Marsh from getting too many opportunities from down town.
“We were attacking the rim, going inside and doing what we needed to do, but we shied away from that in the third quarter.”
Whitehead beat Gilford’s defense with a spin move and hit a jumper from the free throw line to give the Hawks a 26-13 lead – their largest of the game – with 5:09 left in the third, but Marsh scored seven of his nine points as part of a 14-0 run and Isaiah Reese hit one of his four 3-pointers with 2:53 left in the quarter to give the Eagles a 27-26 lead.
Whitehead made a jump shot to end the run and two teams traded leads to end the third tied, 30-30.
“(Gilford) stuck to their same game plan. It was really us,” Signor said. “We stopped working inside, we stopped working the rim. It was really on us. We controlled our own destiny, but didn’t execute the way we needed to. We stopped doing what we do best. Gilford started building their confidence and hit some big shots. (Isaiah) hit some great 3s. We played great defense, we had a hand in his face and he still made those shots. We had good defense, but they had better offense.”
Isaiah Reese hit another 3 to open the final quarter and a Sam Cheek put back gave Gilford its biggest lead of the night – 35-30 with 6:30 left in the game. But Hopkinton went on a 9-2 run from there that started with a step-back 3 from Milchick and ended with a layup from Whitehead that tied the game at 39-39 with 1:37 left. Blocks from Jalen and Malik Reese on one end and Elrick on the other kept the score there until Marsh stole the ball of a Hawks inbounds pass and hit a layup 16 seconds left for what proved to be the game-winning basket.
Hoffmann was fouled on the next possession while attempting a 3, but he only made one of the the three free throw attempts and the Golden Eagles still had a 41-40 lead. Gilford threw away the ball on the ensuing inbounds play with 3.7 seconds left to give the Hawks one more chance at the championship, but Jalen Reese blocked Whitehead’s last-second shot to give Gilford it’s first out-right championship since 2004 (last year’s championship game was never played and Gilford and Mascenic were named co-champions).
“The thing you can take away from this is that every possession and every turnover matters, even from the first whistle,” Signor said. “You shouldn’t have to rely on every free throw and amazing plays with 3.7 seconds left. We can nitpick any of the final details of the stuff down the stretch, but really it was that third quarter that killed us. We knew that sleeping giant was going to awake at one point and they did. We handled it pretty well and played it even (in the fourth quarter), despite the momentum shift.”
There’s no question the game was different than Hopkinton’s 53-40 semifinal loss to Gilford last year.
“It was two totally different teams. We matched up with them well this year,” said Milchick, the only returning starter from last year’s squad. “We played as hard as we could. That was our mindset going in. We were the underdogs. It’s more than I could ask for, for my last season.”