Conant held Belmont to just 17 first half points as the #8 Orioles downed the #9 Red Raiders, 56-44, in first round action of the NHIAA Boys Basketball Division III State Tournament on Tuesday night.
Manny Hodgson (18), Jared Nagle (17) and Jordan Nagle (12) all netted double-digits for the Orioles.
Freshman Treshawn Ray led Belmont with 14 points, while Carroll added 12 points on four threes. The Red Raiders season comes to a close at 12-7.
The win moves the Orioles to 13-6 and will take on three-time defending champion and top-seeded Gilford, in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Check out the full gallery by Melissa Gloddy…

#9 Belmont at #8 Conant
#12 Newport at #5 Campbell
#11 Somersworth at #6 Stevens




The Coffee County girls from Manchester, Tenn. were all the buzz coming into the finals, but Larry Meader had his quick and feisty Kennett squad ready to play and they did the 603 proud. The Lady Raiders would take home the title with a 54-33 victory, dethroning the two-time defending champions in the process.
Kennett’s speed and ball pressure seemed to rattle the Lady Raiders at times as the Eagles held Coffee County to 30 points fewer points than any other team in the tourney. Kennett trailed 12-3 after the first quarter and later 20-3 in the second and the game appeared destined for another blow out like the other Coffee County contests. The Eagles had other thoughts, however, as they outscored the Lady Raiders 16-11 to close the half, sparked by two Hope Elias threes, and trailed by just 12, 31-19, at the break.
The boys title game pitted Division III Belmont’s size and length versus Division IV Profile’s speed and shooting. The size of Belmont’s front court proved to be too much as the Red Raiders defeated the Patriots, 56-46.
Junior sharp-shooter Josh Robie struggled to get it going offensively in the first half for the Patriots as he was held to just four points. He came into the game needing 17 points to reach his 1,000th and he would reach the milestone on a pull-up jumper in the 4th quarter and finish the game with 17. He finished the tournament with 123 points, which broke Tim Lee’s 25-year mark of 105 set back during the 1997 event.


The skilled Lady Raiders set the tone right from the opening tip as they run a set play on the jump ball, called “Island”. While it looks like a gimmick at first, there’s no joke about it as it’s resulted in a wide open corner three in all four games. And, in all four games the Lady Raiders have knocked down the open jumper to take a 3-0 lead about three seconds into the game. They’re shooting over 70% from the field as a team in the tournament. It’s impressive to see.
GIRLS SEMI #1: COFFEE COUNTY 97, BELMONT 26
GIRLS SEMI #2: KENNETT 75, FARMINGTON 30
BOYS SEMI #1: BELMONT 56, DERRYFIELD 45
BOYS SEMI #2: PROFILE 70, FARMINGTON 41

• Profile’s dynamic duo of juniors Josh Robie & Alex Leslie led the Patriots to a record-setting performance in their first game of the tournament. Robie connected on 10 three-pointers en route to a tourney record 52 points, while the Patriots also set the high-water mark for points in a single game with a 103-44 win over Nute. The game also featured the most three-point field goals combined for both teams (21) as Profile buried 13 and Nute dropped eight of their own.