We’ve introduced you to all 64 teams that made this year’s high school boys’ basketball tournament and now we’ll dig a little deeper into the teams that made it through round one.
 

Our semifinal previews will again give your insight from coaches who have faced the final four participants using anonymous quotes & critique. For the quarterfinals we’re going with the strategies you’re likely to see from each team as 32 teams fight for a trip to the final four.
 
 (9) Woodsville at Derryfield School (1)

 Jamie Walker’s Engineers were smart enough Tuesday night to focus on stopping Moultonborough’s two most dangerous starters (Riley Swedberg held to 8 points, sharp shooter Tristan Price was held to 5) and feed their all-state forward Joe Abrahamsen (24 points) against a Panthers defense that had no one that could match up with him. Friday night they face the biggest team in Division IV and your clear cut favorite to be the last team standing on March 15th.

 You can’t go twenty plus games relying on Abrahamsen & center Tom D’Angelo down low and then abandon them because of a few 6’4 guys in white. Woodsville has to fight for points in the paint against Derryfield and hope it opens up looks on the perimeter for Jaret Bemis and point guard Dan Abrahamsen. Defensively you pick your poison; if you collapse into the paint Bennett Doherty, Patrick McGinley and Tyler Zorn are going to knock down jumpers. If you concentrate on not leaving them to help defend then you contend with Roger Larrivee and the Anderson brothers (Sam & Max) one on one on the low block. I think Woodsville has to trust their two bigs to do just that. If I’m Woodsville I go straight man and don’t let Doherty get long rebounds (he has a terrific nose for the ball) or Zorn get clear looks.

 Rob Bradley doesn’t get enough credit for his coaching simply because he has so  much talent year in and year out but if you watched the film of his team going right through the Sunapee press you realize those kids weren’t dong it on the fly. Bradley did a great job preparing his team for what was coming and he has done terrific job pushing the buttons of this group for years.


(12) Wilton-Lyndeborough at (4) Sunapee

 Jordan Litts of Wilton went out and scored 42 points while grabbing 20 rebounds and ended up scoring 32 of Wilton’s 36 points in the second half. His reward? Playing a Sunapee team that handed his squad an 84-36 shellacking last week. So how  do you reverse a result that definitive?

 The book on Sunapee is that they will kill you both with their full court pressure and their ability to knock down ‘how the heck did he bury that?’ long range shots. Their plan is as smart as it is simple; we’re happy taking 70 shots, can you hang with us playing that style? No, teams have proven they cannot. Point guard Matt Tenney is front & center of the best full court pressure in all of Division IV and with Nick Skarin at his side the Lakers have the ability to toss your game plan of patience & execution right out the window.

 The Lakers though are vulnerable if you can get past that first wave of defense; they don’t protect the rim very well and if you get into a half-court game with them their defense isn’t that strong. They will jump passing lanes & gamble and with execution you can burn them backdoor. They rely on the speed of the game and the simple fact that they are better at that pace than you are.

 Wilton can’t get into a running game with Ed Tenney’s team and if four Wilton players are standing around watching Jordan Litts like they have a box of popcorn in their hands that isn’t going to work either. Not against a team this good. Colebrook was never as good as your average 15 win team and the truth is Buddy Trask probably coaxed four extra wins out of a team that didn’t feature a player over 6’1 or an elite ball handler. If you listened to him all season you’ll know, because he was pretty clear in telling people that fact. Still it was a surprise that one single player could take the five seed down himself and in a game for the ages Jordan Litts did just that.

 Wilton has to slow it down and get to a half-court set. Portsmouth Christian got down big early in the first round because of six Sunapee three pointers in the opening quarter but once they settled in, broke pressure and got in a half-court game they actually played even with Sunapee for three quarters. That’s what Wilton takes into tonight’s rematch. That is their glimmer of hope..
 
(6) Profile at (3) Epping

The coverage of Profile is sponsored by Cross Town Motors

 Paul Greenlaw’s Patriots beat a stubborn Newmarket team in round one and now face a veteran Epping team with designs on a run to the final Saturday of the season. Newmarket, playing most of the game without leading scorer Sam Leahy who had a flu bug, hung in there with Profile despite a 22 to 3 disparity in foul shots (the north tends to take care of their own..) and another strong effort by all-state point guard Bailey Johnson. It was two key jumpers by Johnson that broke open a close game and on Friday night he is going to have to be one of the best players on the floor for Greenlaw’s team to advance.
 He will not be his team’s most important player Friday night thought; that distinction falls to 6’3 forward Zach Knowlton. Profile’s top rebounder has the size and strength to play down low but often becomes more comfortable shooting from the elbow or from 15 feet. On Friday night he’ll play a very good front line that features Sean Young’s big center Brett Couture and pre-season player of the year Jimmy Stanley and he is going to have to get his nose dirty. That is because those two can take over a game if you allow them and Knowlton’s job Friday night is to not allow that.

 On the Epping side it will be a question of whether they can stay in front of Bailey Johnson. Epping at times has trouble with dribble penetration and if it is taking help from multiple defenders to keep him out of the paint Johnson is going to find all-state guard Ian Baker for good looks on the perimeter. That is how Profile wins this game.

 Profile will play a 2-3 zone and try to limit Epping to one shot. They will have to keep an eye on Colby Wilson out on the wing but Wilson is the only Epping player you can classify as a knockdown shooter. If the Patriots take good care of the ball and limit Epping’s offensive rebounds they will absolutely be in this one until the end with a chance to win. Epping will play fast but they are also very prone to turning the ball over, if Profile takes advantage they can win and move on to Plymouth State Friday night.

 Jennifer Chick and I will be in Epping Friday night covering the game with play by play, highlights and post-game interviews.
 
(7) Groveton at (2) Littleton

The coverage of Littleton is sponsored by Cross Town Motors

 For all the talk of the South’s dominance this year the final eight teams feature four from the south and four from the north, funny how that always seems to work out. This game guarantees northern representation in the final four as Trevor Howard meets up with Mark Collins with a trip to Plymouth State on the line.

 Howard was not happy at all with his team’s execution in a lackluster first round win over Concord Christian and let his kids know about in the locker room after the game. The Crusaders played hard but they didn’t play smart and time & again they left points off the board by missing lay-ups as well as points in the paint. Groveton trailed Pittsfield late but started to surge in the fourth quarter when Pittsfield had to go zone due to foul trouble. Corey Gadwah stepped up and drilled a 23 foot trey to put Groveton up two and his two foul shots in the final seconds secured a 63-59 victory.

 Littleton will play man to man defense likely from start to finish and they’ll put Cody or Owen Stone on Gadwah to make him as uncomfortable as possible. Gadwah is like a lot of good young players in that he relies on being in rhythm to score. Playing zone allowed him to find his favorite spots on the floor and take advantage; Howard simply isn’t going to allow that.

 In contrast Mark Collins wants more of what Littleton showed in their first round game; an inability for the Crusaders to finish in transition or traffic. Collins wants to speed things up and get his looks for Christian Guay, Gadwah, Dylan Rogers and Daegan Lurvey in transition. Groveton got the rebounding they needed in round one against Pittsfield, but Littleton is a better rebounding team and keeping players like Kuba Kubkowski off the glass will go an awful long ways towards determining their fate. These are two teams that very likely could meet again in the next two years on a much bigger stage down route 93. Winner here makes that trip in 2014.