AMHERST – The Merrimack Valley boys’ basketball team felt pretty good going into Thursday’s Division II matchup with Souhegan.
Coming off its first win, a thrilling two-point victory over Bow on Wednesday night, the Pride felt like it would be able to hang with a Sabers team that came into the night with an 0-4 record.
“We were hyped coming into this game, thinking that we won yesterday. We were thinking, ‘Let’s just get another one,’ ” junior guard Ryan Defina said.
Then the first quarter happened.
After MV’s James Shattuck hit a 3-pointer to open the game, Souhegan went on a 17-0 run, ended the quarter with a 17-3 edge and eventually used that advantage to pick up a 58-45 victory.
“I think our kids were ready for the game,” second-year Pride Coach Tim Mucher said when asked about playing on back-to-back nights. “I just think that first quarter really did us in because you can’t spot a good team – a hungry team that wanted their first win – 17 points. It was an uphill climb from there.”
Souhegan played like a team possessed from the opening tip, shooting 12 of 19 from the field in the first half and finishing the game shooting 7-for-10 from 3-point range.
The Sabers finished with three players in double figures, another with nine points and one with eight, while MV was held scoreless for nine minutes and 23 seconds in the first half. The drought finally ended when Caleb LeClair hit a pair of foul shots at the 5:59 mark of the second quarter.
“It’s hard,” Defina said with a long pause, collecting his thoughts. “I don’t know how to explain it. When we dig ourselves into such a big hole, it’s hard to get out of. And we need to overcome that as a team. … We don’t have that yet.”
The Pride put together a solid second half, keyed by Defina, who scored all 12 of his points in the second half. But it just wasn’t enough.
“You can’t spot a team 15 or 17 points and try to dig yourself out of it every night,” Mucher said. “We have to play a certain way. For the last three quarters, we did a lot of good things and hopefully we can build upon those things for the next game.”
Mucher was quick to put Defina’s performance in the “good things” category.
“He came off the bench last night versus Bow and gave us some great, quality minutes in the win,” Mucher said. “And tonight, he continued with that and hopefully he can string together another good game and he’ll keep getting more minutes.”
One place where the Pride was clearly overmatched was on the glass. The roster lists just two players taller than 6 feet. And one of those players, starter Ben Davis, left the game in the first quarter with an injury and never returned.
“Benny Davis, he’s athletic. With his size, when you don’t have that, and he’s an athletic kid, we probably missed that a little bit on the boards,” Coach Mucher said.
The Pride was outrebounded, 26-14. But Defina was not willing to blame the loss on a lack of height.
“Height is not the problem,” Defina said. “It’s really not a big deal. I don’t see it as a big deal. We still go in there and box them out, push them out of the way.”
Mucher wouldn’t blame the Pride’s struggles on his shorter lineup either, simply saying, “We need five guys to rebound the ball every night. We can’t do that via one guy.”
Kyle Dube made up for Davis’s absence the best he could, finishing with two points and pulling down seven boards. But he looked overmatched in the paint, sandwiched between Souhegan’s towering duo of George Carlson (eight points, five rebounds) and Davis Biddle (12 points, five rebounds) all night long.
Despite the early deficit, MV never gave up, but it also failed to take advantage of key opportunities. Trailing 28-13 at the break, the Pride opened the second half by forcing two Souhegan turnovers in a row, but missed back-to-back-to-back shots and then coughed up its own turnover.
Defina was single-handedly responsible for a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter that cut Souhegan’s lead to 51-39 but that’s as close as it would get. Jeffrey Kiesewetter’s three-point play with 1:35 left sealed the deal for the Sabers.
“We couldn’t get a stop. We would score but then they would just come right back at us and it is frustrating because we had our chances,” Defina said.
Shattuck was the only other MV player in double digits, scoring 10 points on 3 of 12 shooting, while Jake Hebert (nine points, three rebounds) and Jack Prewitt (five points, two rebounds) also chipped in with solid efforts.
The Pride finished with eight turnovers and shot 5-for-11 from 3-point range, while Souhegan turned the ball over 10 times, eight of those coming in the second half.
MV won’t have much time to dwell on the tough road loss with a matchup at home against Lebanon (2-0) looming on Tuesday.
“Hopefully we can take steps forward. We have a big game coming up against Lebanon and hopefully we can catch them on an off night,” Mucher said.
He just has to hope the Pride can put their off night behind them.
Pelham 63, John Stark 27
Key players: Stark – Autumn Nelson (7 points), Sarah Clark (6 points)
Highlights/key moments: Pelham outscored Stark 32-12 by halftime thanks to some solid shooting from outside the arc to send the Generals to their second straight loss.
Coach’s quote: “Better basketball players win. We will continue to work hard and improve as the season continues.” – Stark’s Don Poitras
Records: Stark 1-4; Pelham 5-1
Kearsarge 36, Jon Stark 12
Key players: Stark – Jacob Mitchell (win via pin); Kearsarge – Mason Benedict, Brady Lombard, Bryce Brown
Highlights/key moments: The trio of Benedict, Lombard and Brown helped lead the Cougars to victory with pin wins while Stark’s Mitchell put some points on the board for the Generals with a pin win over Nathan Monroe.
Coach’s quote: “We’re getting better everyday towards the Division III tournament.” – Stark’s Timothy Capen
Records: Stark 0-5
John Stark-Hopkinton 6, Kearsarge-Plymouth 3
Key players: John Stark-Hopkinton – Tim Meserve (goal, assist), Cabot Lineberry (goal, assist), Benny Madden (goal, assist), Owen Olson (goal), Tim Sawitsky (goal), Jameson Bourque (35 saves); Kearsarge-Plymouth – Jakeb Arnold (2 goals), Alex Nagle (goal), Cody Rowe (28 saves)
Highlights/key moments: John Stark-Hopkinton took a 4-0 lead in the first period before Kearsarge-Plymouth found the net in the second. JSH’s Owen Olson, a freshman, scored on a rebound to make it 5-1. Kearsarge-Plymouth answered back 36 seconds later and were down 5-2 at the end of the second period. Both teams scored in the third before the final buzzer.
Coach’s quote: “We have struggled this year getting off to a strong start and tonight was a nice change. Tonight we had balanced scoring from all three lines but our energy wasn’t there for the second and third period.” – John Stark-Hopkinton’s Denis Kolehmainen
Records: John Stark-Hopkinton 3-0-0; Kearsarge-Plymouth 1-3-0
Concord 727, Hopkinton 726, Bow 723, Bishop Brady 721, Pembroke Academy 678,
John Stark 284
Key players: Bishop Brady – Garrett Cahill (sixth, boys), Olivia Crainich (first, girls), Silvia Caldesi (third), Kamryn Compton (sixth); Hopkinton – Zachary Berliner (ninth, boys), Addie Locke (second, girls), Elizabeth Berliner (fifth), Beatrice Burack (seven); Bow – Alex Mangini (second, boys), Ben Wachsmuth (fourth), Tony Sampo (fifth), John Cook (seventh), Sam Selleck (10th); Concord – Sean McDonough (third, boys), Grace Devanny (eighth, girls), Lily Desgroseillie (ninth); Pembroke – Jackson Frazier (eighth, boys), Jessica Boyajian (10th, girls); John Stark – Aiden Moser (first, boys), Samantha Innerfiel (fourth, girls)
Highlights/key moments: The Tide collected only one top-three finisher but came away with enough combined between the boys and girls to win the Capital Cup. McDonough led Concord with a third-place finish in the boys race.
Coach’s quote: “After all the rain that froze overnight, the race hill at Proctor was rock solid. Very pleased to get four ladies and two guys into the top-10 respectively.” – John Stark and Hopkinton’s Bob Berliner