The NHIAA Division III boys’ basketball championship matchup will feature No. 3 Kearsarge against No. 1 Gilford, at Keene State College Saturday at 7 p.m.
The teams didn’t meet in the regular season, so it’s anyone’s guess as to who’ll go home with the trophy. They last met in last season’s semifinal, which Gilford won 38-35.
Gilford finished the season with a record of 16-1 and will be the favorite as they head to their third straight title game. After a first-round bye, the Golden Eagles glided through their first two playoff games, downing No. 9 Newfound, 67-44, and No. 5 White Mountains, 54-36.
The only team that managed to put a blemish on Gilford’s record book this season was Mascoma, who Kearsarge knocked out in a thrilling 45-42 semifinal game earlier this week. The Cougars’ early-round games weren’t so close: Kearsarge dispatched Mascenic, 78-48, in round one and dropped Monadnock, 71-42, in the quarterfinals.
If both teams’ semifinals scores are an indication, scoring may be on the lower end in Saturday’s title tilt. Gilford’s 54 points against White Mountains were nearly 10 fewer than their regular-season average of 63.2 points per game.
Kearsarge was well below its standard as well. The Cougars averaged 61.4 points per game in the regular season.
On the defensive side of the floor, both teams are among the elite. Gilford’s opponents averaged 34.5 points per game in the regular season, while Kearsarge held theirs to 39.8.
“Their defense is very good,” said Kearsarge coach Nate Camp. “They rotate really well in a matchup zone. And they’re just so long and athletic. They are aggressive and they can create turnovers, and then those turnovers turn into points quick. They do a great job of getting points in transition and they can get them in like bunches.”
Camp said the key to stopping Gilford is rebounds and defense.
“If we can defend and keep them from a points perspective in the 30s or 40s, and rebound the ball,” Camp said. “They got a lot of easy buckets off of rebound putbacks. They do a great job of attacking the glass, so we’ve got to limit that. And if we can take those points away from them and not let them get those easy buckets, we can be successful. Now we can maybe play our game.”
Camp has plenty of experience in big games. He’s in his 13th season with the Cougars, having led them to a D-III state title in 2017 and a runner-up in D-II in 2019. But his team does not have the same familiarity.
“The biggest thing will be not making it too big for them, keeping the assignments simple,” Camp said. “If everybody can contribute, if everybody can just do their job defensively and help us out offensively, we can be successful.
Yes, it’s a big game. Yes, it’s a championship game, and there will be a big crowd. But, really, it’s the game that they love. And we’re just going have to play one of our best games. They were all middle school kids the last time we won the state championship, and they were all there and they all watched it, and I think they just want to put an exclamation point on their career. And hope we can do that.”