PENACOOK – With 1:14 left in the fourth quarter, tied at 34, Merrimack Valley boys’ basketball coach Tim Mucher called a timeout to draw up a play. One minute, 3 seconds later, the Pride still had the ball but hadn’t scored. Mucher called timeout again.
On the ensuing play, senior Buddy Eddy drove one-on-one against Lebanon’s Sam Bates straight to the rim and fought up a layup that dropped in.
The horn sounded exactly one second later. The students stormed the court. No. 8 MV survived to fight another day, taking down the No. 9 Raiders, 36-34, in the Division II first-round matchup on Wednesday.
“We were supposed to run something but it stalled, and the kids were a little fatigued at the time,” Mucher said of the first 1:03 of that last possession. “At that point, we were just going to let the time run out and score the ball. Eddy executed; all the guys executed what we needed to do.”
If you like offense, Merrimack Valley’s gymnasium was not the place to be on Wednesday afternoon. In a game in which MV (12-7) scored 10 points in the first half and made just two field goals in that stretch, the Pride came through when it mattered most in the fourth.
Eddy carried the load, scoring 21 of the Pride’s 36 points, including 18 in the second half. Only three other players scored points for MV in the game.
“He made some big shots,” Mucher said. “I’m happy for the seniors. They won their last home game here, and they’ll always remember that.”
Lebanon (10-9) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and led 8-7 at the end of the first quarter. Then the Pride’s offense performed even more poorly in the second, not scoring at all until there were 35 seconds left in the half.
Mucher told his team at halftime that the game was going to “come down to guts.” Things didn’t get that much prettier in the final 16 minutes of action, but the Pride did just enough to dig down and pull out the win, setting up a date with No. 1 Laconia (17-1) on Friday night.
“We have our hands full,” Mucher said of MV’s next game. “The No. 1 team, we’re going to their place. I like our chances because we have nothing to lose right now. They have home-court advantage, but we’re going up there playing loose, keeping our composure, just playing basketball and having some fun.”
But before he could think too far ahead, Mucher still exulted that his team found a way to win a game that it seemingly did everything it could to lose.
“I think everybody got their money’s worth,” he said.
MV will play at Laconia on Friday night at 7 p.m., with a trip to the D-II semifinals on the line.