Bow hosted a rare Division II preliminary round playoff doubleheader against Lebanon due to snow postponement on Tuesday night and came away with two big wins.
The boys faced each other just a week ago in Lebanon to end the regular season; the Raiders escaped with a 40-38 win. On the flip side, the girls’ game had ended in a large 17-point victory for the Falcons, 48-31.
The Falcons girls’ and boys’ earned the right to host with higher seeds on Wednesday night but both Lebanon teams put up a fight.
Boys: No. 7 Bow 44, No. 10 Lebanon 40
Bow senior forward Brendan O’Keeffe stepped up and into his shot at the right time. His clutch buckets down the stretch put Bow up by two late, and later in overtime, he hit another deep mid-range shot to seal the win.
He missed the game-winner before the buzzer in regulation, but didn’t let the miss shake his confidence.
“Got to keep our head in it, just keep our foot on the gas pedal,” O’Keeffe said. “Can’t get down, just got to be straight dogs out there.”
Earlier in the game, during a timeout in the first half, Bow Coach Eric Saucier asked his team, “Where’s the defense guys? What do we pride ourselves on?”
The Falcons at times struggled to defend the Raiders and maintain possessions on offense to limit the opposition.
Saucier’s team built a strong lead early, but let it slip. In the second quarter, it led by just six points and by the end of the third, the score flipped against them.
“We’ve got to make them guard a little bit and when we did, we got good looks,” Saucier said.
The well-traveled crowd from Lebanon urged on the Raiders. After going down by 10 points early, the loud chants for defense and tireless effort saw them come back.
Lebanon junior forward Liam Sullivan’s eight points in the first were complemented by senior Nehemiah Billings and Miles Saunders to chip away.
The Raiders were one of the hottest teams in D-II with a four-game win streak and their fans knew it.
Coach Blendon Salls for the Raiders said the game was nearly identical to last week’s, but Bow made some shots on Wednesday that they didn’t last Friday.
The underdog Raiders gained and Bow had to prove their defense could hold for another 16 minutes. Lebanon forced turnovers left and right and Bow was constantly on defense.
“I think they played solid defense against a really strong group,” said Salls.
Lebanon’s junior forward Ethan Gray and senior guard Tyler Ranney hit big shots after big shots and brought their team ahead 32-28 to end the third. Gray finished with 8 points and Ranney with seven on the night.
“The senior group just really stepped up, they wanted to play in the playoffs, that was one of their goals,” Salls said.
In the fourth quarter, a switch finally flipped for Bow. They possessed the ball longer — passing and passing — until they found an easier shot.
Sophomore guard Ben Reardon started the winning push with a three-pointer and five more points early in the fourth quarter.
“Tonight I think we just went out there and played and did the little things, got the win,” Reardon said.
In overtime, Bow did what it had to. They controlled the ball until they found O’Keeffe an open shot. By the time he scored, the Raiders were forced to foul to conserve the clock, and once they got a solid, structured possession, the seconds were counting down.
Bow found itself on the right side of the score, nearly identical to last week’s, and will move on to play No. 2 Pelham (14-4) on Friday at 6 p.m.
“Last year at this time, we lost to Pembroke. I walked into the locker room and saw tears,” Saucier said he told the team. “You’re right back where you were, now. I don’t want to see tears after Friday.”
Girls: No. 3 Bow 48, No. 14 Lebanon 30
After a very slow start, Bow found a way to bounce back.
Bow only managed to score seven points in the first quarter, while Lebanon kept up with six. Through eight minutes, every shot Bow was getting seemed to hit the rim and bounce out.
In the second and third quarters, the Falcons came back out with energy. All five starters scored to put up 16 points in the middle two quarters.
Sophomore guard Peyton Vaughn led the charge on the night with 20 points. Quick breakaways and tough inside drives led to most of her points.
“After the loss last year, I feel we had a different kind of fire in the playoff game at home,” she said. “We didn’t want that to happen again.”
Senior forward Lauren Longley was a big threat from midrange, with all eight of her points coming from inside the arc.
Lebanon’s Cathryn Bachelder led the Raiders with nine points, followed by Lillian Estes with seven.
“They gave as much effort as they could give. I can’t ask for anything more of it,” Lebanon’s coach, Jeff Sowa, said.
The Falcons will move on to host No. 6 Merrimack Valley (14-5) on Saturday at 2 p.m.
