Tag: Hanover

Hanover wins defensive battle versus Pembroke in semifinals

By: KJ Cardinal

DURHAM – No. 2 Hanover held No. 3 Pembroke to just 24 points through three quarters of play and went on to win a defensive battle, 49-43, in the semifinals of the NHIAA Division II Boys Basketball State Tournament on Tuesday night at Oyster River High School in Durham.

The Bears advance to the title game where they will take on top-seeded Pelham on Sunday at UNH. The game time is still to be determined.

Hanover set the tone early on the defensive end of the floor, limited the Spartans to just four 1st-quarter points. The Bears led 11-4 at the end of one.

Pembroke found its groove a little in the 2nd quarter, behind seven points from Evan Berkley, and cut the Hanover lead to three at the half, 21-18.

The Bears defense was once again stifling in the 3rd quarter, giving up just 6 points to take a 31-24 lead to the final frame.

In the 4th, the tempo picked up, but the two played nearly even as Hanover went on to win by six, 49-43.

Pembroke had no answer all night long for Hanover big man Jaysen Oriel who finished with a game-high 18 points, while Roy Lucas added 12. Pembroke was paced by 16 points from Joe Fitzgerald and 12 from Berkley.

Check out the full game highlights by Tim Lee…

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

Strong second-half leads Hanover past Milford

Hanover led by just three at half, but used a strong second half to defeat Milford, 50-38, on Tuesday night.

Sydney McLaughlin led all scorers with a game-high 29 points for the Bears, while Shea Hansen (14) and Elianna Nassay (11) both scored in double-digits for the Spartans.

With the win, Hanover stretches its win streak to four games and improves to 10-4 on the season. Milford falls to 7-7.

Check out the full gallery of the action by Betsy Hansen…

Hanover handles Plymouth

Hanover went on the road and handled host Plymouth, 57-41, on Thursday night.

The Bears were led by a game-high 25 points from Sydney McLaughlin and 13 from Claire Starosta. The Bobcats were paced by 13 from KK Merrifield, 12 from Ella Duchette and 11 from Lilly Palombo.

With the win, Hanover improves to 9-4, while Plymouth falls to 4-9.

Check out photos of the action by John Scott Sherburne…

While we were away…

This week, we completed a complete overhaul and upgrade of our server to better serve our growing coverage. During our outage, we provided photo coverage of 17 games! These were all still viewable on our social media outlets, but we wanted to make sure they made it to the website.

Below is a list of the games we covered with links to the photo galleries. Enjoy the show!

Hanover handles Bow

By Nathaniel Ford

BOW – The Hanover Bears dominated in their 12-point win on the road, 64-52, against the Bow Falcons in Division II action and improved to 6-1 on the season. 

Hanover is one of the best teams in the entire state defensively, holding teams to 27.8 points a game on average. While the score does not reflect this, they showed their dominance on the defensive end once again. 

“Our defensive success this year has been predicated on all five guys working together on the court. We’ve got individual players that are good defensively, but when we are all thinking about helping each other, we are able to contain guys like Jake [Reardon],” said Hanover coach Ben Davis.

This success was shown early in this contest, limiting the Falcons to just 2 points in the first six minutes of play. During that time, Hanover was able to pour in 9 points of their own, giving them a comfortable lead. 

The Bears continued to shut down the Falcons on the defensive end, and offensively, they were led by sophomore Ryan McLaughlin, who was averaging 14.3 points a game coming into tonight. In the first, he scored 10 points by himself, including two three-pointers. 

“He makes us go just pushing the tempo in transition. When he’s on and he’s clicking, it makes us a totally different offensive team,” said Davis. 

Bow could not get any shots to fall and knocked down just one shot from the field. Behind this stellar performance, Hanover led 16-5 going into the second.

In the second, Hanover slowed the game down, which is a tempo they have loved to play at this season. They thrive in low scoring games, which have been many of their contests this season. McLaughlin continued to lead the Hanover offense, pumping in 7 more points this quarter.

Bow continued to struggle offensively and could not get in a consistent rhythm on that end of the court. Most of their shots were heavily contested by the Bears, and they struggled to get any easy looks. Jake Reardon, who is averaging over 22 points a game, had just three points, all free throws, at halftime.

“We were swarming him tonight and making things difficult on him, which is what our goal was,” said Davis. Hanover focused on making Reardon’s life tough in this game, and it was a huge success.

Due to their stout defense, Hanover brought a large 34-17 lead into halftime. McLaughlin was leading the way with an impressive 17 points through the first two quarters.

At the start of the third quarter, Bow started to show some life. Keenan Hubbard had a big and-one basket for the Falcons, and Jacob Littlefield and Colby Smith both knocked down shots from beyond the arc. These huge baskets got the Falcon bench on their feet and cut the Hanover lead to 11 points.

However, the Bears stayed composed, and coming out of their timeout, McLaughlin knocked down a massive three-pointer to kill the momentum Bow built. A couple more Hanover baskets caused a 7-0 run and extended the lead back up to 18 points. 

Reardon got a basket inside at the buzzer, but the Hanover lead remained massive at 47-31 entering the fourth quarter. 

The Falcons needed a comeback, and they turned up the pressure. Their full-court press gave Hanover all sorts of problems, forcing a ton of turnovers. 

“Second half was a little bit different. They turned up their pressure a little bit and were doubling the ball and giving us problems. We were fortunate to build a lead so we could weather the storm there at the end,” said Davis.

This lead proved to be too large, as Bow could only cut it as low as 9 points in the final frame. When all was said and done, Hanover walked away with a 64-52 victory. 

The Bears were led by a game high 28 points from Ryan McLaughlin, and Wyatt Daigle added 11 points of his own. 

The Falcons offensive output was very balanced, with Keenan Hubbard (11), Jake Reardon (10) and Colby Smith (10) all recording double figures. 

Hanover’s improvement from last season is nothing short of spectacular. They started off last season with an 0-12 record, they have now completely flipped the script and are 6-1 this season. 

“We’ve got a big test against Manchester West on Friday at home. It should be a good game, but they’re gonna come at us with their athleticism and defensive intensity,” said Davis.

Bow fell to 3-3 after this loss and looks to bounce back on Friday in a home matchup against 2-3 Milford.

Bedford cruises past Hanover, sits atop D-I standings

The Bedford girls improved to a Division-I best 6-0 on the season with a 47-17 victory over D-II Hanover on Saturday.

The Bulldogs were led by a game-high 13 points from Kate Allard and 12 from Lana McCarthy. The Bears were paced by Sydney McLaughlin’s 10 points.

Hanover suffers first loss of the season and falls to 5-1.

Check out the full photo gallery of the action by Betsy Hansen…

Sanborn survives Hanover

Sanborn pulled off a close 62-58 victory over visiting Hanover on Monday night in Kingston.

The Indians led by two at the half and four after three and hung on for the win. Sanborn snapped a three-game skid with the victory to improve to 3-9 on the season, while Hanover falls to 1-12.

Check out the full photo gallery of the action by Rick Wilson of Rick Wilson Photography…

[Sanborn coverage is brought to you by What’s The Scoop?]
[Hanover coverage is brought to you by Dunks Sports Grill]