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The Great Bay C.C Division I Semifinal Scouting Report

By Dave Haley, 03/14/18, 6:15AM EDT

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Cody Morissette and Exeter will meet Dover at UNH (Photo by Matt Parker)

 As we do for each of our semifinal previews we hand it over to the people who know these teams best; the coaches that face them during the season.

 We had three Division I coaches break down the match-ups tonight at UNH.

 We will bring you full coverage of both games tonight with Pete Tarrier, Justin McIsaac and I all on the call throughout the night. All of the highlights and the post-game with the entire winning team.

 You can listen to both games live right on our site on MOSN (the McIsaac on Sports Network)

 Thank you to our partner Great Bay Community College for sponsoring the coverage of all of our seacoast teams including Dover, Portsmouth and, Exeter!

 Division I

(5) Manchester Central vs (1) Portsmouth

Portsmouth Team Page

Manchester Central Team Page

 The defending champions face the team that beat them on opening night back in December. For the rematch in Game 2 tonight we asked our coaches to break down both teams. Beginning with Jim Mulvey’s Clippers.

 “They are such a mature and disciplined basketball team, and I think Jim Mulvey is one of the best high school basketball coaches in New England. They run good stuff, they defend at a very high level and when you make a mistake they cash in on it,” said one Division I tournament coach.

 “With Portsmouth, they are just so solid all around the perimeter. They’ll only play six guys but each player knows their specific role and they follow it to a T. You are down 6 to them with 3 minutes left so you tell your players, ‘We need to trap them and force turnovers,’ and they don’t turn it over. You then tell your kids, ‘We need to foul them and make them make free throws,’ and they make their free throws…”

 “I love Alex Tavares as a player. I think him against Kyler Bosse is going to be a big-time match-up. (Cody) Graham hasn’t had the scoring numbers this season that he has in the past but he’s a winner. He will make plays at Durham that will put them over the top like he always does.”

 What about Dave Keefe’s Manchester Central Little Green?

 “I voted Dave as our Coach of the Year,” said one coach. “He has them rotating defensively and they play so hard. They are a typical Central team where they will not get out-worked. Antione Revere is a really good point guard and he can pull up from three feet behind the 3-point line. To me (Kyler) Bosse is one of the five best players in our division, he can hit the three-point shot but really what he is doing is getting you up on him so he can go by you and to the rim.”

 “Central’s defense is so intense, and the thing is, you cannot re-create that in practice. They are so quick to the ball and aggressive with their defense. They can get the ball out of your hands and jump passing lanes and once they do they go. Central is deeper than Portsmouth, who will only play six guys tonight, so if Central can wear them down they can beat them again.”

 Another coach talked about the match-ups. “I’m interested to watch Antione Revere pressure, Cody Graham. Revere is faster than Graham but Cody is so smart as a player and so shifty with the ball. When he gets the ball in the open court, where I think he is very underrated, he is sizing up his guy 40 feet from the basket and how he is going to score on him.”

 “I was listening to the Winnacunnet/Portsmouth game and every time Winnacunnet got it to five points Mike Sanborn would hit a big shot. They are just a very experienced team and they are very used to the big stage at UNH.”

 A tournament coach talked about the match-up. “Everyone is talking about the pressure Central is going to come at Portsmouth with but Portsmouth pressures the ball as well. They are a terrific defensive team and I think that’s where Central could be in trouble by turning the ball over a lot.”

 So who wins the game tonight?

“Portsmouth is my pick to win it all.”

“Portsmouth in a really close one.”

 “Portsmouth… a 52-47 type of game.”

 

(11) Dover vs (2) Exeter

Dover Team Page

Exeter Team Page

 Matt Fennessy’s Green Wave have gone on the road and knocked off 6-seed Londonderry and 3-seed Bedford. They now head to UNH to play a game against Seacoast rival Exeter in front of what will undoubtedly be a packed house.

Our coaches broke down the match-up.

“Dover is playing really well right now, they have three very good players in Devin Cady, John Cantwell & Ty Vitko and they are playing with a lot of confidence. Dover has shooters so any deficit can be erased when you have guys like Cady and Vitko that can get hot in a hurry.”

 “They are a difficult team to defend because they leave Cantwell on the baseline weak side and what they’ll do is pop a shooter like Cady or Vitko up to the perimeter and either get that look or find Cantwell in the paint. They force your defense to make a decision on who to leave.”

 Another coach talked about Dover’s defense. “They may not have been a great defensive team during the season but they are certainly playing good defense now. They held Bedford in the 40’s and that is very hard to do. Exeter is going to make them play defense and be very disciplined because they (Exeter) are the best offensive team in our division.”

 We asked the coaches to break down Jeff Holmes’ team.

 “They have the most talent of any team in our division and with a player like Cody Morissette leading them, I think they are going to be very tough to beat. They’ve shortened their rotation a bit to the point where they are not pulling five guys off the floor like a hockey line change. Jeff (Holmes) is keeping Cody or Josh (Morissette) on the floor at all times so he has adjusted that rotation.”

 “Jeff does a really nice job with their offensive sets and they have played pretty good defense as well. They just have so many players you have to guard that someone usually gets left open or in a position where he can hurt your team. When we played them, Ryan Grijalva, really hurt us. It can be a different guy every game. The player to watch for is Josh Morissette, he will play aggressive and for an underclassman that is rare.”

 “I think this is a bad match-up for Dover. Exeter plays a similar style but they have more players that can get loose and hurt you; Nick Perrella, Bobby Cliche, Kevin Henry…all those guys are capable. Where Bedford would struggle to score all season Exeter does not so Dover isn’t going to be able to win a shootout unless they get really hot.”

 Another coach talked about Exeter’s big game experience. “I was talking to (Merrimack head coach) Tim Goodridge after the BG/Merrimack game and he said ‘These games used to be so packed you couldn't get in the gym.” Well, that’s what it’s like now on the seacoast when Portsmouth-Winnacunnet-Exeter are playing each other. They were the pre-season #1 so teams have been lining up to beat them all season long. I think they come into this final four very battle tested.”

 So who wins tonight?

 “Exeter, too many weapons and I like Cody Morissette in a big game. He’s a scholarship athlete, he will play well.”

 “Exeter, by 10 to 12 points.”

 “I like Exeter to win it by about 8.”

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