Month: March 2023

Pelham routs top-seeded Laconia in D-II semis

Fifth-seeded Pelham came out the gates firing and never looked back as they routed No. 1 seed Laconia, 69-31, on Tuesday night in semifinal action of the NHIAA Division II Boys Basketball State Tournament at Sanborn Regional High school. The Pythons advance to the title game where they will take on #2 Pembroke on Sunday at the University of New Hampshire.

Pelham steam-rolled the Sachems right from the jump as the Pythons outscored Laconia 24-6 in the first quarter and later led 38-17 at the half. The Sachems were also held to just two fourth-quarter points as Pelham cruised to a 38-point win.

The Pythons’ Zach James led all scorers with a game-high 34 points, while Dom Herrling added 17 of his own. Kayden Beck netted a team-high 17 points for Laconia. 

Pelham’s James and Herrling caught up with Andy Romike after the game in the latest Romike Report…

Check out the highlights by our own Tim Lee…

Check out the full gallery of the action by Jeff Criss of Perfect Photos…

Pembroke rolls to D-I title game

No. 2 Pembroke outscored #14 Oyster River by 16 in the second half to roll to a 70-49 victory in semifinal action of the NHIAA Division II Boys Basketball State Tournament at Sanborn Regional High School on Tuesday night in Kingston. The Spartans advance to the title game where they will take on #4 Pelham on Sunday at the University of New Hampshire.

The Spartans led by three after one (14-11) and five at the half (27-22) before pouring in 21 third quarter points to take a 19-point led to the final stanza, 58-37. 

Check out the full gallery of the action by Jeff Criss of Perfect Photos…

Bishop Guertin punches ticket to title game

Top-seeded Bishop Guertin defeated No. 4 Goffstown, 67-49, in the semifinal round of the NHIAA Division I Girls Basketball State Tournament on Tuesday night at Londonderry High School. The Cardinals advance to the title game where they will take on No. 3 Bedford on Sunday at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

BG jumped out to a quick 21-8 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. The Cardinals were led by a game-high 25 points from Meghan Stack, while Hannah Lynch (14 points) and Brooke Paquette (12) netted double-figures as well.

The Grizzlies were paced by Ava Winterburn’s 24 points and 10 fro Ava Ruggiero. 

Check out the full photo gallery of the action by Dave Beliveau… 

Bedford comes from behind to down Portsmouth, advances to title game

Behind a game-high 24 points from Lana McCarthy, No. 3 Bedford defeated No. 2 Portsmouth, 64-60, in the semifinals of the NHIAA Division I Girls Basketball State Tournament on Tuesday night at Londonderry High School. The Bulldogs advance to the title game where they will take on No. 1 Bishop Guertin on Sunday at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

Portsmouth jumped out to a 15-12 lead after one quarter of play and pushed their lead to as many as nine in the second quarter before Bedford mounted their come back. The Bulldogs cut the lead to two at half and took a one-point lead going to the fourth on a buzzer-beater layup by McCarthy. The Bulldogs won the final quarter, 16-13, to come away with the win.

Kate Allard (14 points) and Lyla Stein (13) also netted double-digits for Bedford, while Portsmouth was paced by 22 points from Mackenzie Lombardi and 13 from Avery Romps.

[Portsmouth coverage is brought to you by Tropical Smoothie Cafe]

Check out the full photo gallery of the action by Dave Beliveau… 

Check out the full photo gallery of the action by Joe Tupper… 

Dancing into March

By: KJ Cardinal

It’s been an impressive season for college basketball around the Granite State with success at all levels of NCAA play and many teams are still competing.

The Keene State University men are ranked fifth in the nation and have advanced to the Division III Sweet 16. The Southern New Hampshire University men and women both received at-large bids to their respective Division II East Regionals and the St. Anselm College men are hosting that D-II regional right here in Manchester. The University of New Hampshire men are playing in the America East semifinals tonight down at UMass Lowell. 

Let’s take a look at who’s still playing and where they’ll be in action next…

DIVISION I: UNH MEN

The University of New Hampshire men’s team (15-14, 9-7 AE) is the No. 3 seed for the America East Playoffs and defeated No. 6 Bryant 67-60 on Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament. The Wildcats are looking to advance to their first-ever league title game as they hit the road tonight to take on #2 UMass Lowell at the Costello Athletic Center. The Riverhawks are an impressive 16-0 at home and boast a 25-7 mark, 11-5 in America East.

You can watch tonight’s semifinal on ESPN+.

DIVISION III: KEENE STATE MEN

On Saturday, Keene State (28-1) advanced to the Sweet 16 of the Division III NCAA Tournament with a 77-72 win over Tufts. The Owls are ranked fifth in the nation and will head to Pennsylvania to take on No. 7 Swarthmore on Friday at 7:15 pm with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line. These two met in the postseason last year with the Owls pulling off the 84-83 upset road win over the Garnet in the D-III first round.

Check out the full NCAA Men’s Division III bracket

DIVISION II:

SAINT ANSELM MEN

The second-seeded Saint Anselm College men (22-7, 15-5 NE10) were crowned Northeast-10 Conference champions on Saturday with a 65-54 win over No. 4 New Haven. As a result, the Hawks have garnered the top seed for the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball East Regional and will play host to the eight-team regional at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium. Saint Anselm opens play with No. 8 Caldwell on Saturday (game time TBA).

SNHU MEN

The Southern New Hampshire men (20-8, 16-4 NE10) were upended in the Northeast-10 semifinal by New Haven, 59-42, last week, but the Penmen were awarded an at-large bid to the NCAA D-II tourney on Sunday night. SNHU is the No. 3 seed in the East Region and will take on No. 6 St. Thomas Aquinas at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium on Saturday (game time TBA).

Check out the full NCAA Men’s Division II bracket

SNHU WOMEN

The SNHU women (21-7, 15-5 NE10) were the top-seed for the NE-10 tourney, but were tripped up in the title game by No. 4 Bentley, 61-49, on Sunday afternoon. Later Sunday evening, SNHU was awarded an at-large to the NCAA Division II East Regional as the No. 2 seed and will take on No. 7 St. Thomas Aquinas at Assumption University in Worcester on Friday at 2:30 pm. 

Check out the full NCAA Women’s Division II bracket

Top-seeded Bedford survives OT scare from Trinity, advances to semis

By: KJ Cardinal

The top-seeded Bedford Bulldogs survived an overtime scare from eighth-ranked and defending champion Trinity, 93-91, on Sunday night in NHIAA Division I quarterfinal action.

The Bulldogs advance to the semifinals where they will take on #4 Nashua South on Wednesday at 7:30 pm.

If you like high octane offense, then this game was for you. The contest featured three players with 36 points or more as both teams combined for 184 points and 22 threes (Trinity 14, Bedford 8).

Tyler Bike got the offensive onslaught started as he pumped in 17 first quarter points, including five threes. Trinity took a 29-17 lead after the first stanza and later held a 45-35 advantage at the break.

Luke Soden carried the load for Bedford in the first half as he scored 21 of the Bulldogs 35 points, including three triples of his own.

Over the final 16 minutes of regulation, the Bulldogs would claw their way back as Aiden O’Connell netted 12 points in each of the final two quarters to help force overtime at 79-79.

The extra frame belonged to O’Connell as he poured in 10 points to lead Bedford to the dramatic come-from-behind victory.

Soden (42 points) and O’Connell (36) combined for 78 points to lead the Bulldogs to victory. For Trinity, Tyler Bike amassed 39 points, including a perfect 10-10 from the charity stripe. Also netting double-figures for the Pioneers was DeVohn Ellis (16), Kevin Doherty (10) and Shawn O’Neil (10).

Check out highlights of the action by own Tim Lee…

Check out the photo gallery by Cindy Lavigne of Lavigne’s Live Shots…

Woodsville completes three-peat

It’s a three-peat for the Woodsville Engineers as they defeated Holy Family, 57-49, to capture their third straight NHIAA Division IV Boys Basketball State Championship on Sunday evening at Colby-Sawyer College in New London. 

Following the game, Cam Davidson and Landon Kingsbury caught up with Andy Romike in the latest Romike Report…

Check out the full photo gallery by our KJ Cardinal…

Check out the full photo gallery by Shirley Nickles…

Colebrook crowned champs

Second-seeded Colebrook defeated top-ranked Groveton, 47-44, to capture the 2023 NHIAA Division IV Girls Basketball State Championship on Sunday afternoon at Colby-Sawyer College in New London.

The Mohawks were led by Ariana Lord (12 points), Emma McKeage (11) and Haley Rossitto. Delaney Whiting paced the Eagles with a game-high 16 points on 3-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Marissa Kenison also added double-figures for Groveton with 12 points.

After leading the Mohakws to the title, Lord, McKeage and Rossitto caught up with Andy Romike in the latest Romike Report…

Check out the full photo gallery by our own KJ Cardinal…

Check out the full photo gallery by our Shirley Nickles…

Great Bay CC falls in conference final, earns at-large bid to national tourney

By: Mike Whaley

AUBURN, Maine — The Great Bay Community College men’s basketball team had a great run come to a close on Sunday with a 59-47 loss to Southern Maine CC, 59-47, in the Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) playoff championship Sunday at Central Maine CC.

With the win, No. 3 SMCC, the defending USCAA Division II national champs, earned the automatic bid to the D-II nationals later this month in Richmond, Virginia. Great Bay is also going to the nationals as it earned an at-large bid. Three YSCC teams are bound to the 10-team national tourney with NHTI also joining the field.

Great Bay will open the nationals on Monday, March 13, noon, vs. Villa Maria (19-10) from Buffalo, N.Y.

In Sunday’s final, the Seawolves (19-9) jumped out to a 35-21 lead at the half and never let the Herons (20-8) get in the game. No. 6 GBCC struggled offensively, making just 31.7 percent of their shots from the field and 4 of 18 3-pointers. Theo Wolf led the Herons with 14 points and 18 rebounds. He was named the YSCC Men’s Final Four Offensive Player of the Tournament. Bryce Gibson added eight points. The loss snapped a six-game GBCC winning streak.

SMCC was led by Thomas Martinotti with 14 points, while Jack Pyzynski and DeSean Cromwell added 12 apiece. Martinotti was named Tournament MVP, while Cromwell was tabbed as the Defensive Player of the Tournament.