The fifth-seeded Hopkinton Hawks flew past #12 Newfound, 45-24, on Wednesday night in first round action of the NHIAA Girls Basketball Division III State Tournament.
The Hawks were led by a game-high 14 points from Shaylee Murdough and 12 from Maddie Carmichael.
Hopkinton advances to the quarterfinals on Saturday where they will take on #4 Prospect Mountain.
Check out the full gallery of the action by our Jill Stevens…
[Newfound coverage is brought to you by Choice Physical Therapy]
Behind a game-high 25 points from Abram Standefer, #4 Hopkinton defeated #49 Inter-Lakes, 65-49, in first round action of the NHIAA Boys Basketball Division III State Tournament on Tuesday night.
Will Tanuvasa (13), Gavin Davies (12) and Noah Aframe (10) also made double-digit contributions for the Hawks in the win.
The Lakers were paced by 15 points from Owen Brown and 14 from Addie Kernen. Inter-Lakes season comes to a close with a 6-11 record.
The Hawks improve to 13-4 and will take on #5 Campbell on Friday in the quarterfinals.
Check out the highlights by our own Tim Lee…
Check out the full gallery by Dave Beliveau…
By: KJ Cardinal
The 2023 NHIAA Boys Basketball Division III State Tournament gets underway tonight with a six-pack of first round games around the state. Let’s take a look at all six match-ups as we get ready for the action…
#9 Belmont at #8 Conant
The ninth-seeded Belmont Red Raiders hit the road to take on #8 Conant at 6:00 pm. The Orioles defeated the Red Raiders, 48-32, back on January 24th in the only meeting between the two this season.
Conant’s Jared Nagle leads the way for Eric Saucier’s squad with 12.8 ppg. The Red Raiders, under first-year head coach Tony Martinez, are paced by Keegan Martinez’s 15.7 ppg.
Belmont’s looking to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2021, while Conant last made a trip to the quarters in 2020.
#13 Inter-Lakes at #4 Hopkinton
Inter-Lakes and Hopkinton will meet for the first time this season tonight as the #13 Lakers hit the road to take on the #4 Hawks at 7:00 pm.
Hopkinton, the 2021 Division III runner-up, started off the season with eight straight wins, but has dropped three of their final four games and enter the tournament with a 12-4 mark. The Hawks are paced by Marek Joppa (14.8 ppg) and Will Tanuvasa (12.8).
The Lakers come into the tourney with a 6-10 mark and are led Owen Brown’s 14.1 ppg.
#12 Newport at #5 Campbell
The 12th-ranked Tigers make the trip to Litchfield to take on #5 Campbell tonight at 6:30 pm in the first meeting between the two this season.
The Cougars enter the tourney with a 12-4 mark and are riding a six-game win streak. With wins over #4 Hopkinton and at #8 Conant during that stretch, head coach Justin DiBenedetto’s squad appears to be playing their best basketball at the right time.
With seven wins on the season, Newport has equaled their win total from the previous five seasons combined. Do-it-all senior Kayden LaClair is the straw that stirs the drink for Rob Clark’s squad as he averages 19.8 ppg and can change the game on the defensive end of the floor.
#10 Monadnock at #7 Winnisquam
The seventh-ranked Winnisquam Bears welcome #10 Monadnock to Tilton tonight at 7:00 pm. The two have not met yet this season.
The Bears, led by the divisions top scorer Anthony Boomer (21.5 ppg), dropped their season finale at Stevens, but have won 10 of their last 13 games and enter the tourney with an 11-5 mark.
The Huskies are riding a season-long, four-game win streak as they enter the tourney with a 8-10 record. Evan Dumaine leads the way for Monadnock with 19.6 ppg.
#14 Berlin at #3 Mascoma
While the scheduling snafu that disqualified White Mountains from tournament play was unfortunate, it made way for #14 Berlin to sneak into the tourney’s final spot and will head to third-ranked Mascoma Valley at 7:00 pm.
The Royals are currently on a nine-game win streak with big wins during that stretch over #4 Hopkinton and #6 Stevens. Silas Ayres’ squad is led by Zach Thompson (18.6 ppg) and looks to get the quarterfinal round for the fourth-straight season. Just five days ago, the Royals cruised to a 68-35 win at Berlin.
The Mountaineers (5-12) started the season with two victories and ended the season with a win over #11 Somersworth, but in between they were just 2-12. Jeremiah Dow (15.2) and Haden Poulin (11.7) both average double digits for head coach Jesse Arsenault’s team.
#11 Somersworth at #6 Stevens
Sixth-ranked Stevens plays host to #11 Somersworth tonight at 7:00 pm.
The Cardinals enter the tourney with a 12-4 record and have won six of their last seven, including three straight. Hunter LaRocque paces Stevens with 14.3 ppg.
The Hilltoppers are currently on a four-game skid and have dropped seven of their last nine. But, head coach Leon Shaw’s squad has some weapons in the backcourt with Aiden Heffron (15.7 ppg) and Dominic Starr (13.0).
The Hopkinton girls went on the road and won a key Division III match up at St. Thomas on Friday night, 50-31, in Dover. The Hawks improve to 10-4 on the season, while the Saints fall to 8-3.
Mike Whaley sent a long some photos of the action…
It’s time for our first installment of The Peach Basket where we throw it back to old school photos of New Hampshire basketball. Check out who we feature this week…
• Pinkerton Academy head coach Dave Chase went into the way-back machine to pull out a couple photos from his hay day back in Vermont from 1980 and also shared some special images from his time at Hopkinton.
• Brewster Academy assistant coach Josh Lee of Farmington continues to pass the rock as he sent along photos of the state’s all-time leading scorer (Dave Burrows) from the 1990 Class S State Champion Nute Rams and his 2,000-point scoring brother, Tim Lee, who is alongside NHBCO Hall of Fame coach and Josh’s dad, Mike Lee.
• The Farmington Booster Club also shared some images from the town’s first-ever state championship team, the 1970 boys squad that featured tri-captains Dan Reynolds, Paul Moulton & Alan “Mouse” Hagar.
Thanks to everyone that submitted photos. If your photo didn’t run this week, it will in a future installment of The Peach Back.
Be sure to knock the dust off your old photos, scan them in or take a pic of them with your phone and email us at TBT@ball603.com. Help us celebrate the history of New Hampshire basketball.
Now onto the photos…
The opening weekend of the 2021-22 season is in the books and we now forge ahead with our first full week of NHIAA boys varsity basketball action that features 96 games across all four divisions combined.
We have our eyes focused on covering 13 games this week. Check out where we plan to be…
December 13
December 14
December 15
December 16
December 17
*schedule subject to change
The wait is almost over. On Friday, December 10th, 84 of the 88 NHIAA boys varsity basketball teams will be in action with 42 games around the state as the 2021-22 season gets underway.
St. Thomas Aquinas hits the road to take on Hillsboro-Deering at 5:30 pm to mark the first official tilt of the new campaign. The Saints and Hillcats last squared off on February 28, 2020 in the regular-season finale as St. Thomas came away with an easy 72-46 victory at home.
Eight other contests tipoff at 6:00 pm, with 24 match-ups at 6:30 pm and nine more at 7:00 pm. It’s the most games on a single day all season long, so there’s no good reason to not get out and catch some local action on Friday night.
See you at the gym.
