Photo courtesy of Josh Spaulding of Salmon Press Sports 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.
 
 (8) Mascoma at (1) Hopkinton

 The Royals ran Laconia off that tiny floor in West Canaan Thursday night and now face the biggest team in Division III with a trip to the final four at stake. Jim Barry isn’t going to dial down the pressure it just will not be quite as effective on a bigger floor. Barry got a big game out of his center Walter Hammond and a terrific effort out of his best defensive player Kyle Kosiorek in the win and needs the same effort tonight. The Royals play a similar style to the Hawks and will look to get Justin Marsh, one of the fastest players in the division, out in transition.

 Dave Chase worried about the long layoff his team had coming into a first round game with Somersworth and his fears were realized when the 16 seed was within 28-24 at the half. The Hawks though settled down and dominated the second half. They come in tonight with their legs & rhythm back. Gabe Nichols, Luke Luneau and Jake Nelson will make Walter Hammond a very busy guy Saturday night and if Hopkinton gets outside shooting from Liam McNicholas with good ball movement (McNicholas can tend to shoot without getting the offense going..) the top seed is a good bet to be in Manchester Thursday night.
 
 (13) Raymond at (5) Campbell

 The Rams were my upset pick in round one and may have been the wolf in sheep’s clothing (is that still an expression? Man I’m old…) all along. That’s because Rich Winget’s team played four games this year with as many as seven players suspended and came into the tournament winners of seven in a row. Connor Cole (11 points), Mitchell Sytulek (11 points) and Andrew Downey (15 points) all had big games in a come from behind win at Newport. Raymond bothered Newport with full court pressure and held all-state guard Spencer Coronis to seven points, 13 below his season average. This is a team playing with a purpose and it was clear Thursday night that they were winning every 50/50 ball and not backing down on the road.

 Expect that same level of intensity when they head to Litchfield. John Langlois is an excellent tournament coach, the guy has been to championship games in two divisions the past two years, and has to know he is playing the underdog using house money tonight. Campbell will have to be able to handle pressure and guard Andrew Smarse will play a major role in that. Raymond snuck up on Newport, Campbell can’t allow that to happen. A second home game is a nice surprise but it’s not a gift. Raymond will bring a big crowd and a lot of intensity tonight and Campbell has to match that to get back to SNHU.

 Information for this preview was gathered from our friend Mike Pezone’s great website www.sugarriversports.net  check it out today
 
(6) Gilford at (3) Berlin

 When teams feel like they may have gotten the raw end of the deal they typically react in one of two ways; they whine about it and spend the rest of their spring talking about how they got screwed or they band together and gain strength from it as a group. Gilford has adopted the latter approach and with suspended guards Josh Joyce and Max Troiano helping to lead practices the Golden Eagles beat a Prospect Mountain team that had swept them during the season 59-53 without five players suspended for leaving the bench against Somersworth. They did this behind 26 points from sophomore Coby Goodwin and a typically big night out of forward Kaleb Orton. Chip Veazey’s team now heads WAY up north to face maybe the best defense in Division III.

 Don Picard is one of the best coaches in New Hampshire and he has a team that will guard you for 94 feet, box out and push you off the spot you were hoping to get to. Gilford has to be physical & take care of the ball tonight and they will do that with Cam Partridge and four players returning from suspension. Kyle Gaudet returns and has to be a factor along with big man Mike Madore off the bench.

 Gilford led Berlin for most of the night in the regular season meeting and needs to close that out without Joyce who has one final game on his (self-edit) suspension. Berlin is a team with a lot of character and they have had their own bout of suspensions and turbulence to deal with but they have battled through and come together as a group from it just like Gilford did Thursday night. Winner is on to SNHU Thursday night in the final four.
 
(10) Farmington at (2) Conant

 The Farmington Tigers pulled off a big upset in round one in beating Christian Serrano and Winnisquam. Their reward is an all expenses paid trip to Jaffrey/Rindge (boy people from Rindge get on me when I don't mention them..) to face the defending champions and arguably the two best players in the division in Robert O’Brien and Eli Hodgson (a beast Thursday night..). Oh and the gym will be sold out and everyone will be rooting against you, enjoy.

 But this is also a veteran Farmington team that should feel prepared for this moment. They have size and experience with Shane Hill, Tanner Gibbs, Kevin Poulin & Jase Gregoire. They’ll have to handle pressure and find an answer for Hodgson on the low block. He has been immense when healthy this year & he has been every bit the player O’Brien has been this year and both of these guys will be playing at the next level a year from now.
 People questioned why the Orioles struggled against Mascenic in round one. First of all that is a rivalry game, Mascenic wasn’t scared of Conant and frankly was tired of hearing about them (this will be the case with Memorial & Central Monday night). Secondly Mascenic had played two days earlier while Conant had not played in nearly a week. No one should be surprised a solid Mascenic team hung around. Eric Saucier has won too many games to start apologizing for style points, win & move on.

Winner here plays the Berlin/Gilford winner Thursday night.