Monthly Archives: December 2012

December 31, 2012 · 5:11 pm

Joel Barlow overwhelms Platt Tech 50-30 in girls basketball

Drew Bartro (14 points) gets loose inside

Kelly Mahoney (10 points) fires from the corner

(Redding) The Platt Tech girls ventured out of the comforts of Class S and into the deeper waters with a Class L opponent and came out on the wrong end of 50-30 score at Joel Barlow on Monday afternoon.

The host Falcons (4-2) tallied the game’s first ten points, built their lead to twenty (28-8) in the second quarter, and were never seriously challenged.

Platt Tech (3-4) may have been taller but the superior Barlow quickness, organization, and unselfishness was noticeable.

Victoria Shea of Barlow took the opening tip in for a layup and Platt Tech needed 5 ½ minutes of playing time before they could match that basket. Camileia Collier (15 points) hit the ice-breaker for the Panthers and it ended a ten-point run by Barlow.

The Falcons defended full-court but it caused few turnovers. However, when PT missed, Barlow was quick to fast break and outnumbered the visitors from Milford in transition often. That was when the unselfishness kicked in as open ten-footers were turned down for assists to teammates even closer to the basket.

Victoria Shea chased by Karolina Liszezynska (13) and Broghan Lavery (14)

Platt Tech was content to use a zone defense and they had game-long trouble getting back after missed shots. Even when the Panther defense was in place the Falcons passed and cut into openings for good shots.

Drew Bartro (14 points) led the Falcon scorers despite sitting out the fourth quarter. She had eight of her points in the first quarter. Drew was very effective inside even though (6-5) Aaliyah Bohannon was often in the area defending.

Kelly Mahoney (10 points) was the other Falcon in double figures.

Barlow coach Joe Carollo took off the full-court pressure even before halftime and had his team in a half-court zone for most of the second half. This act of sportsmanship was a key to a 32-10 halftime lead not getting out of hand.

Platt Tech outscored the team from Redding, 20-18, in the second half.

Camileia Collier (15 points) rushes out to defend

Camileia Collier (15 points) paced the Panthers while Aaliyah Bohannon (10 points) also reached double figures.

Joel Barlow’s next game is at home with Masuk on January 2nd at 7PM.

Platt Tech travels to Kaynor Tech on the same day to play at 6PM.

I was surprised that PT didn’t try to lob the ball often inside to Aaliyah. She had moves around the basket and there certainly wasn’t a Barlow defender close to her size.

The most remarkable thing about this game, to me, was the lack of whistles. There were only nine fouls called in the entire game! And it wasn’t that the officials were letting them play……..there just wasn’t a lot of contact. The game was over in just over an hour even though at the start of the game every player was introduced and the National Anthem was played.

I like the lack of a shot clock. The Falcons took a lot of time off the clock passing, passing, and then passing some more, against the PT zone.

I did some homework on the teams beforehand and came away impressed with Sarah McAniff’s resume. I’m guessing that there will be some real tears shed by the volleyball, basketball, and softball coaches when she puts on the Joel Barlow graduation gown in 2013.

Joel Barlow boxscore

Platt Tech boxscore

(All of the pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Ally Stillman (24) gets fouled

Emma Gallagher (7 points) gets a good look

Drew Bartro defends Broghan Lavery

Sarah McAniff (10) looks to pass over Britany Jackson (20)

6-5 Aaliyah Bohannan (10 points)

relaxing 4th quarter on Joel Barlow bench

Kelly Gilbert (20) defended by Aaliyah Bohannon (12)

Tianna Reeves defends

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Filed under Joel Barlow, Platt

Tagged as Aaliyah Bohannon, Camileia Collier, Coach Joe Carollo, Drew Bartro, Kelly Mahoney, Sarah McAniff

December 28, 2012 · 11:27 pm

William Tennent girls defeat Quakertown 56-31 to take Quakertown Christmas Tournament title

William Tennent – Quakertown Christmas Tournament champs

Nikki Alden (14 points) beats Taylor Herd on inbounds play

(Quakertown) William Tennent (6-2) pulled away from Quakertown in the second half and won the Quakertown Christmas Tournament, 56-31, on Friday night.

(Both girls teams are the Lady Panthers so I will refrain from using the name.)

Quakertown (2-6) trailed just 23-17 at the half but the visitors from Warminster put a 10-2 segment together in the first three minutes of the third quarter and never looked back.

Q’Town’s deficit was twelve (37-25) with two minutes to go in the third quarter. WT, however, scored all the points in the next 4 ½ minutes of playing time and this game became a 45-25 blowout with 5 ½ minutes left.

The rest of the game featured non-regular players. Quakertown was assessed a technical foul during this part of the game when they tried to use a player who wasn’t even listed in the scorebook. Trust me, this miscue had no bearing on the final outcome.

Allison Chadburn (12 points) on the break

Nikki Alden (14), Angie Pomponio (13), and Allison Chatburn (12) led William Tennent on the scoresheet. WT was very unselfish and there were plenty of eye-catching assists setting up high-percentage shots. Backdoor cuts and weak-side cuts caught Quakertown napping numerous times.

WT was also very effective on inbounds plays in their scoring end. Quakertown stuck with a man-to-man defense and WT screens led to layups.

Quakertown was impressive early on. They made three’s and actually led, 11-9, one minute into the second quarter. Freshman Taylor Herd had two long ones and senior Kathryne Vetter added another one. Unfortunately, those three 3’s would be the only ones the host team would get in the game, although quite a few others were launched.

tight Quakertown defense

When the outside game deserted Quakertown they were in big trouble against a team playing well on both ends of the court. WT took the lead for good, 12-11, on a three by Angie Pomponio. That would be WT’s only three.

William Tennent full-court pressure caused several pick-two’s. However, it was in the half-court that Quakertown was most effected by WT pressure. By my unofficial stats, WT forced twenty turnovers.

Ashlee Ruzicka (12 points) led Quakertown in scoring getting eight of them coming in the third quarter. She was a force inside but Q’Town had trouble getting the ball inside to her.

Ally Fenner shoots over Taylor Herd and Ashlee Ruzicka

WT separated from Q’Town with nine unanswered points in the second quarter. Baskets by Nikki Alden, Ally Fenner, and Allison Chatburn plus free throws by Nikki (two) and Ally (one) did the damage and turned a 14-13 close game into a ten-point (23-13) WT advantage.

The decisive surge in the third quarter, when WT pushed a 23-17 halftime lead to 33-19, was engineered by Nikki (layup and two free throws), Angie Pomponio (layup), and Allison (two baskets). This spurt turned out to be the one that Quakertown didn’t recover from.

I was impressed with the improvement of Quakertown from last season. The recovery from injury of Kathryne Vetter and the addition of freshman Taylor Herd have significantly upgraded Q’Town.

Credit the WT defense. They were well aware of both Kathryne and Taylor and there were very few good looks for either of them.

Ashlee Ruzicka (12 points) looks to the hoop

I recall seeing Ashlee Ruzicka last year playing with one knee brace. Now she has two.

I was impressed with the organization of WT on both ends of the court. The team concept was in play in both areas. Good shots for them and tough shots for Quakertown were the results.

Kathryne Vetter fouled out with over five minutes left. She was held to three points by WT after getting twenty-one points in the opening round of the tournament.

Most of the basketball games I see (Massachusetts) are played with a shot clock. There is no sitting back in PA games waiting for the shot clock to help you get the ball out of an opponent’s hands. Being able to create pressure and handle pressure are absolute musts in PA.

Who can you trust? The very fancy program given out at the game had William TennEnt spelled, “William TennAnt.”

William Tennent boxscore

Quakertown boxscore

(All of the pictures above and below enlarge significantly if you click on them.)

Brooke Alwine launches

Taylor Herd (21) heads for the hoop

Kathryne Vetter

Ally Fenner drives on Ashlee Ruzicka

Taylor Herd (9 points) tries to get past Alyssa Christiansen

Spenser Gray and Angie Pomponio (13 points)

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Filed under Quakertown, William Tennent

Tagged as Allison Chatburn, Ally Fenner, Alyssa Christiansen, Angie Pomponio, Ashlee Ruzicka, Kathryne Vetter, Nikki Alden, Quakertown Christmas Tournament, Taylor Herd

December 21, 2012 · 11:26 pm

Undefeated Ipswich dominates Georgetown 74-20 in girls basketball

The Ipswich defense surrounds Georgetown senior Kylie Troy

Freshman Jenna Gagnon (17 points) puts up a long one

(Ipswich) That’s two straight routs by Ipswich to start season.

The Tigers (2-0) buried Georgetown, 74-20, in a Cape Ann League game on Friday night in their home opener.

A week ago the Ipswich girls opened their season on the road with a lopsided, 66-21, win over Amesbury.

I thought that Georgetown (2-2) might offer a challenge to the Tigers since they have 1000-point scorer Kristin Hogan as well as defender/shooter Marissa Agganis. But it didn’t matter.

It was clear right off that the Royals would struggle against the aggressive Tiger defense. Before the first quarter was half over the visitors already had seven turnovers and trailed, 6-0.

Kristin Hogan (11) chased by Brigid OFlynn (33) and Julia Davis (32)

Ali Newbury’s layup from Kristin Hogan broke the ice for GTown with 4:15 left in the first quarter.

The Tigers followed with a productive run that ended any outcome suspense that may have existed. Over the next 5 ½ minutes of playing time, extending into the second quarter, Ipswich dominated Georgetown to the tune of, 22-2, including one stretch of sixteen unanswered points.

The result of this terrific offense/defense was a, 28-4, Tiger lead with 6:48 left in only the second quarter. The rest of the game was played but at no time was there any doubt at the Ipswich Tiger Den about the final outcome.

Keys to the Ipswich success during that special 5 ½ minutes were that they; had no turnovers, made three 3’s, and forced six Royal turnovers.

The Tigers put together another stretch of unanswered points (nine) in the second quarter. Their halftime lead was, 42-9.

This was not a run-up-the-score kind of game. Every player on both rosters played plenty. Substituting five at a time was the norm in the second half.

My scoresheet had freshman Jenna Gagnon with 17 points and sophomore Caroline Soucy with 16 points to lead Ipswich. Jenna had four 3’s. Julia Davis (10), Jordan Morrissey (9), and Masey Zegarowski (8) also contributed points for Ipswich.

Marissa Agganis (7 points) sails in for a layup

Marissa Agganis (7 points) paced the Royals getting two 3’s in the second quarter. Kristin Hogan only played in the first half and was limited to two points by defender Brigid O’Flynn.

Next for Ipswich will be Manchester-Essex at home on December 27th. The Royals next opponent is Winthrop at home on December 28th.

Ipswich was 18-5 last year and have made the post-season tournament eight straight years. Anyone attending the game I’m written about would feel quite certain that another Tiger tournament team is in the making.

Two of the teams that have had the Tigers’ number over the last few seasons are Masconomet and Pentucket. This season Pentucket has already defeated Masco.

The Tigers will host Masco on January 3rd. A win there by Ipswich will make the circle-the-date (January 15th) encounter with Pentucket at Pentucket a huge one in the Cape Ann League.

Former Tiger Shannon McFayden was in the house.

You knew that the outcome was decided early when both coaches sat during the entire second half.

Unofficially, Georgetown made only two of nineteen free throws.

Caroline Soucy (16 points) goes down the lane with Graceann Conte (4)

Most impressive player? Caroline Soucy. The sophomore caused Georgetown trouble on both ends of the court.

Biggest surprise? Jenna Gagnon. The lefty put in four long ones and certainly wasn’t freshman shy about shooting. Adding an outside shooting threat to the Ipswich lineup will open things up for the numerous Tiger drivers.

There was a Pentucket scout in the house.

(All of the pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Julia Davis defended by Ali Newbury

Ipswich coach Mandy Zegarowski

Jordan Morrissey looks for a pass

Caroline Soucy saves

Bridget Curran set to block

Shannon McFayden

Masey Zegarowski drives

Jackie Gagnon (10) breaks on Mollie Swanton (14)

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Filed under Georgetown, Ipswich

Tagged as Caroline Soucy, Coach Mandy Zegarowski, Jenna Gagnon, Julia Davis, Kristin Hogan, Marissa Agganis, Masey Zegarowski

December 18, 2012 · 11:57 pm

Pentucket girls defeat North Reading 57-35 after championship banner unveiled

2011-12 Division 3 state champs – March 17, 2012

championship banner unveiled

Alex Moore (11 points) fires from long range

(West Newbury) The Pentucket girls struggled mightily in the first half but returned to last year’s form in the second half as they defeated North Reading, 57-35, in Cape Ann League action on Tuesday night.

The “first half Sachems” could well have been thrown off by the festivities before the game.

The 2011-12 Division 3 state championship banner was unveiled and the thirteen team members from that 23-4 squad were reunited one last time before an adoring home crowd.

This was my first look at the team since the March 17th win over Sabis (55-32) at the DCU Center in Worcester as they captured the D3 title. Leading the way for Pentucket on that memorable afternoon were Sarah Higgins with 22 points and Kelsi McNamara with three long ones.

Elise Makowski soars in the lane over Coley Viselli during a strong Hornet first half

You know that the bar has been set pretty high for a team when they lead by three (20-17) at halftime and you describe them as, “struggling.”

But the 2012-13 Sachems (2-0) were struggling. There wasn’t a shot near or far that they could make consistently. And there were plenty of turnovers.

In the second half, a crucial ingredient in years of success returned……….shooting, and when that happened in the third quarter, the 2012-13 team started giving a great impression of the championship team of the previous season.

North Reading (0-2) actually got within two points (21-19) a minute into the second half but then the Pentucket scorers started hitting shots from everywhere, especially long range.

With shots falling, the Sachem defense could setup and pressure North Reading into a pace that created turnovers and rushed shots.

The visiting Hornets would make just one basket (Tarah Reilly) over the next six minutes while the Sachems put up twenty-one points and blew this one wide open, 42-21, with a minute left in the third quarter.

Kelsi McNamara (13 points) about to pass to a breaking McKenna Kilian (14 points)

Two treys by Alex Moore and one each from Coley Viselli and Kelsi McNamara highlighted the surge. The Sachems also added 7-of-8 free throws and a floater in the lane from McKenna Kilian.

That burst of positive production separated the two teams and North Reading was unable to get within double-figures of the Sachems the rest of the way.

Not only was the championship banner unveiled but the home fans also got a look at seven new players including five freshmen.

Sophomores McKenna Kilian (14) and Kelsi McNamara (13) paced Pentucket. Senior Alex Moore added eleven points. The Sachems next game is Friday night at Triton.

Carly Swartz (11 points) launches a last-second shot

Freshman Carly Swartz (11) led the Hornets. Carly scored all eleven in a first half in which North Reading made things very interesting for Pentucket. 6-5 freshman Jessica Lezon was a defensive presence for NR.

The Hornets will look for their first win at Masconomet on Friday night.

Quietly in the background during the pre-game celebrations was Pentucket coach John McNamara. His 136-18 record at Pentucket, and counting, is truly remarkable.

A look ahead at the Pentucket schedule has them starting off with Division 1 Billerica in January in a non-league game. Last season I saw Billerica nearly defeat Nicole Boudreau and the Andover Golden Eagles at Andover. Their key players were underclassmen. The Pentucket/Billerica contest is at Pentucket and should be special.

(The pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

junior Sydney Snow

Coley Viselli chases a loose ball

Elise Makowski double-teamed by Alex Moore and McKenna Kilian

McKenna Kilian (14 points) and Morgan Maiola

Kelsi McNamara defends

Morgan Maiola (7 points)

Emily Dresser in close

freshman Rebecca Torrisi

Coley Viselli shoots a technical foul shot

Tess Nogueira (6 points) drives

6-5 Jessica Lezon

Coach John McNamara

Alex Moore pressures Carly Swartz

Leigh McNamara returns

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Filed under North Reading, Pentucket

Tagged as Alex Moore, Carly Swartz, Coach John McNamara, Coley Viselli, Elise Makowski, Jessica Lezon, Kelsi McNamara, McKenna Kilian, Tess Nogueira

December 14, 2012 · 9:29 pm

Pingree routs Bancroft 79-32 in Eastern Independent League boys basketball

Luke Alley (14) heads for the hoop with Alonzo Jackson (3) closing fast

Lucas Reeve (14) in close

(Hamilton) Softball has the Mercy Rule. This basketball game was begging for a similar arrangement.

Pingree routed Bancroft, 79-32, in an Eastern Independent League mismatch on Friday night at Pingree.

The Highlanders (2-2) ran off the game’s first thirteen points and never were seriously challenged by the team from Worcester. Pingree is now 2-0 in the EIL.

While Pingree rolled up thirteen points in the first four minutes, the Bulldogs (1-5) were registering seven turnovers. Two of the early Bancroft miscues led to John Spears’ (11 points) layups.

PJ Lidonde (12 points) surrounded by Highlanders

The Highlanders man-to-man defense forced twenty-nine turnovers during a game in which everyone in uniform played plenty.

Pingree had the long-shot available and made six (three by Reese Fulmer) but seemed content most of the game to make the extra passes to get teammates layups and high-percentage shots. It was classic unselfish basketball.

Dylan McDonough (4 points) broke the ice for Bancroft with a layup.

Later in the half Pingree had another string of unanswered points (nine) and were up, 32-6, with three minutes left in the half. Reese (11 points) had a three and a layup off a turnover in the run.

The home team put another run of nine together in the second half extending their lead to, 59-17. A layup and two free throws by Griffin Beal (8 points) were part of that run.

Pingree coach Steve Gibbs had his bench cleared in the first half and so there was plenty of PT for the Highlander reserves in the second half.

Justin Assad (24) draws a charge

PJ Lidonde led Bancroft’s scorers with twelve points. He also had one of the harder charges you’ll ever see when he ran over Justin Assad (13 points) in the first half.

Alonzo Jackson (11), Nino Leone (9), and Kyle Lentini (7) were other scorers for Pingree.

I was impressed with Pingree in my first look at them this season. Last year they were 19-6. This year’s team has added four excellent freshman – Alonzo Jackson, Griffin Beal, Justin Assad, and Nino Leone.

John Spears? I would like to know a player faster than this junior. He is definitely not someone the other point guards on the Pingree schedule look forward to facing.

Pingree’s next opponent is Berwick (EIL game) on Wednesday (4PM) at Pingree.

(The pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Freshmen Nino Leone (34) and Matt Zujewski (11)

Griffin Beal (21) gets a fancy pass from Reese Fulmer (0)

Freshman Griffin Beal in traffic

Freshman Justin Assad had thirteen points

John Spears (11 points)

Connor Reardon finds an opening

PJ Lidonde slices between Kyle Lentini (22) and Connor Reardon (15)

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Filed under Bancroft, Pingree

Tagged as Alonzo Jackson, John Spears, Justin Assad, Kyle Lentini, Nino Leone, PJ Lidonde, Reese Fulmer

December 11, 2012 · 10:49 pm

Newburyport wins opener 39-23 over Amesbury in girls basketball

Lilly Donovan (17 points) gets in for two

Lilly Donovan (16 points) gets in for two

Mary Pettigrew (11 points) at the line

(Newburyport) This wasn’t pretty to watch from a style standpoint but I’m sure the Newburyport girls will take the win they got in their opener, 39-23, over Amesbury on Tuesday night at NHS.

Both teams feature athletes from fall sports and you could see that the transition to basketball was a work in progress.

By my unofficial figuring, there were forty-six turnovers in this thirty-two minute game! Both teams had twenty-three miscues. It seemed obvious that at this early date in the season the defenses (both played man-to-man) were far ahead of the offenses. Those on hand saw too much dribbling and too many ill-advised passes.

No three’s were made by either team although plenty were taken.

Sarah Abraham (24) and Emily Pettigrew (10) battle

Amesbury (0-1) had all sorts of trouble generating any offense except in the third quarter. The Indians went through almost the entire second quarter without scoring a single point.

Newburyport won this game because of the play of Lilly Donovan (16 points) and Mary Pettigrew (11 points). That twosome worked together to create scoring opportunities for each other on several occasions. Both made individual moves inside to produce points for the Clippers.

Newburyport (1-0) broke out of a 2-2 tie in the first quarter with a run of eight straight featuring a converted rebound by Lilly, two layups by Mary, and two free throws by Aly Leahy.

Later starting later in the first quarter the Clippers would string twelve unanswered together to get a commanding 22-6 advantage late in the second quarter. Newburyport collected those twelve points via converted rebounds by newcomers Emily Pettigrew (freshman) and Morgan Johnston (sophomore), two layups by Lilly, a jumper by Emily, and a driving layup by Casey Barlow.

Lilly Donovan defended by Emily Martin

Only a last-minute drive by Emily Martin kept the Indians from being shut out entirely in the second quarter. Newburyport led, 22-8, at the half.

Amesbury’s best quarter was the third. They actually outscored the Clippers, 10-8. Producing points for the Indians were Janine Fatal with a layup, followed by two inside scores from freshman Megan Reid, and a converted rebound and layup by Sarah Abraham.

The Clippers iced the game early in the final quarter as a Mary Pettigrew free throw, followed by two more freebies by Lilly Donovan, and a Lilly basket assisted by Mary put the home team in front, 35-18, with five minutes left.

Plenty of reserves saw action the rest of the way.

Sarah Abraham launches a three

Sarah Abraham was Amesbury’s high scorer with six points.

Newburyport is coming off a 14-7 in 2011-12 while Amesbury was 1-18 last year.

Beth Castantini, 2012 NHS grad, was in the house. She is now playing basketball for UMass Dartmouth.

There were several folks in the house with clipboards including one from Pentucket and two from Hamilton-Wenham. They just happened to be in the neighborhood??

I thought that the lighting at the Newburyport gym was much better than it was last year.

(The pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Mary Pettigrew and Courtney Borkowski battle

Aly Leahy

Lea Tomasz defends Amanda Martin

Rebecca Kell shoots over Megan Reid from the corner

Emily Williams

Freshman Emily Pettigrew shoots inside

Amy Sullivan heads for the hoop

Jaycie Triandafilou gets in close

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Filed under Amesbury, Newburyport

Tagged as Lilly Donovan, Mary Pettigrew, Sarah Abraham

December 10, 2012 · 11:21 pm

St. John’s Prep overwhelms St. Mary’s 67-43 in boys basketball opener

Drex Costello (13 points) breaks away for a layup after a steal.

Tommy DeVeau (14 points) closely guarded by Mike Bisson

(Danvers) In the season opener for both teams, St. John’s ran away from St. Mary’s in the second half winning, 67-43, on Monday night in non-league play.

The Eagles (1-0) blew open a relatively close first half (32-24) with twenty-two points in the third quarter while limiting the Spartans to only four points. When that dust cleared The Prep was in total charge, ahead by twenty-six (54-28).

St. Mary’s (0-1) opted to play a zone defense against the taller Eagles for much of the game but the long-range shooting of St. John’s wrecked that strategy.

Max Burt (30) scored thirteen for the Eagles

Both Drex Costello (13 points) and Max Burt (13 points) connected three times from downtown as part of ten successful 3’s by the Eagles.

The Spartans best quarter was the second when seven points from Tommy DeVeau (14 points) and a couple of three’s had them outscoring St. John’s, 17-16. But beyond that a very good Eagles man-to-man defense kept the Spartans away from too many high-percentage shots.

Matt Manning had ten points for St. Mary’s.

Spartan starter John Teehan left the game in the fourth quarter with an apparent ankle injury.

St. Mary’s didn’t do itself any favors with their foul shooting – 19-for-33 with a number of the misses coming on the front end of one-and-one’s.

Division Four St. Mary’s has a state finals rematch with Cathedral on Friday night (7PM) at Cathedral.

Division One St. John’s will be hosting Lynn Classical on Saturday at 5PM.

St John’s box score

St Mary’s box score

(The pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Josh Syska defends

Matt Manning (10 points) looks for room

Tyler Dooley cuts between Kyle DeFillipo and Nick Amenta

Ben Judson shoots over Kyle DeFillipo

loose ball

Drex Costello gets a layup

Johnny Teehan looks for room

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Filed under St. John's Prep, St. Mary's

Tagged as Ben Judson, Drex Costello, Matt Manning, Max Burt, Tommy DeVeau

December 5, 2012 · 11:50 pm

New Hampton School downs Brewster Academy 66-58 in boys basketball

Travis Jorgenson (3) led New Hampton School with sixteen points

Noah Vonleh (14 points) defends Chris McCullough (18 points)

(Wolfeboro NH) New Hampton School (6-1) jumped all over Brewster Academy (5-3) in the first half and that carried the visitors to a, 66-58, win on Wednesday night at Brewster Academy.

Part of the first-half breakaway was an 18-2 run by the Huskies that turned a Bobcat lead (4-2) into a Bobcat deficit (20-6) after eight minutes played.

Travis Jorgenson (16 points) had two three’s and two assists in that important NHS surge.

A Brewster timeout and some loud-volume instruction/correction from Coach Jason Smith steadied things for a while. But before the half ended New Hampton ran nine straight and were up, 35-14, with three minutes left in the half.

Lincoln Davis (15 points) gets to the basket

Lincoln Davis (15 points) was key in that run with a layup, a converted rebound and two free throws.

NHS led 37-19 at halftime.

I suspect that the halftime chatter in the BA locker room was mostly about playing better defense. And that’s what we saw……..and it worked as the Bobcats started 10-2 in the first 6 ½ minutes to close to ten – 39-29. All five baskets were layups.

Later, the home team lowered the Bobcats’ lead to 54-45 (with 6 ½ minutes left) on two free throws by Kyle Washington (5 points) and a runner in the lane by Martez Harrison (10 points).

But back came point guard Travis Jorgenson with an end-to-end layup, followed by a back-breaking Noah Vonleh three. The quick five-spot pushed the Huskies’ margin into the comfort zone (59-45) with 5 ½ minutes to go.

BA closed strongly (10-2) riding a couple of three’s by Ron Patterson (10 points) but there just wasn’t enough time or stops to get all the way back.

Chris McCullough (18 points) paced Brewster. Among those points was a crowd-pleasing jam late in the first half.

In the same half, Lincoln Davis had the highlight-film jam with a spectacular putback of a missed shot. Lincoln is listed at 6-2 but believe me he plays a lot taller!

Martez Harrison and Travis Jorgenson

The key player for New Hampton School? No question to me that it was Travis Jorgenson. The 6-foot playmaker was able to handle the ball under relentless man-to-man pressure with few turnovers. He also broke down the tight defense numerous times for scores or for layups for teammates.

This was my first look at Noah Vonleh (14 points). Noah (6-9) is committed to Indiana. I was impressed. He didn’t force his offense and he could handle the ball if Travis needed an outlet. His passing was sound enough that Coach Pete Hutchins had Noah inbounding the ball against pressure.

Noah did get into a one-on-one moment with 6-9 Chris McCullough on one possession from above the key. It didn’t end well for Noah as Chris picked his pocket and led a fast break.

Noah did have the game’s biggest shot in my opinion when he drained his only three to put NHS ahead, 59-45, with 5 ½ minutes left.

Tory Miller (12 points) scored eight of them in the second half. He tipped in teammate Mike LeBlanc’s missed free throw late in the game.

Good crowd on hand to see these New Hampshire rivals.

Last time I was at Brewster the place was packed as the Bobcats faced, and defeated, Tilton. I’m still trying to get over seeing Nerlens Noel as a 6-11 point guard in that game. I don’t think we’ll be seeing much of that happening at Kentucky!

Brewster gets another chance with New Hampton at New Hampton on January 16th (5PM). It might be worth a look.

Brewster has several players committed to D1 colleges: Ron Patterson and Chris McCullough (Syracuse), John Edwards (UNH), Kyle Washington (North Carolina State), and Elijah Macon (West Virginia).

(The pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)