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The Core Physicians Division III Tournament Preview

By Dave Haley, 03/03/20, 6:30AM EST

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Anthony Gauthier and Conant take on red hot Campbell (photo by Ben Conant)

 

 For the 12th consecutive year, we will preview every tournament game in the state, continuing today with Division III.

 Our semifinal preview will again be written by the coaches, as I’ll speak to four coaches in the division and ask them to break down the two final four match-ups using blind quotes.

 We’ll be bringing you coverage of 31 tournament games in the next 21 days, culminating at UNH when the Division I & Division II championship games will be played on Saturday, March 21st.

 The following Saturday the NHsportspage senior and underclassman teams will take on BABC, one of the top basketball programs in the northeast, at NHTI in Concord.

 Today we will look at each of the six first-round games in Division III and our coverage is brought to you by our friends and partners at Core Physicians, with over 15 locations on the seacoast!

 Pete Tarrier & Joel Johnston will be in Litchfield tonight when 6th seeded Campbell hosts defending champion Conant.

 On behalf of Jen, Lance, Justin, Pete, Austin, Nichole, Joel, Eliot & I we want to thank each of our 10 Gold Level Coaches and programs who supported our team while having access to each & every one of our full game videos from past years all the way to the championship game at Keene State.

 Mike Rathgeber of Inter-Lakes

 Eric Saucier of Conant

 Silas Ayres of Mascoma

 Jim Cilley of Belmont

 David Bedard of Franklin

 Jim Hill of Monadnock

 Rick Acquilano of Gilford

 Mike Curtis of White Mountains

 Sean Murphy of St. Thomas

 Frank Girginnis of Campbell

 

 Final Division III standings, scoring leaders and Gold Level coaches/programs

(1)   Gilford and (2) Mascenic Regional receive first round byes

 

 (9) St. Thomas and (8) White Mountains

 White Mountains team page

 St. Thomas team page

 After about three dozen texts messages between coaches, four different scenarios and way too much math, we have arrived at St. Thomas going to White Mountains in the 8/9 game (with the winner being covered by us in Gilford Friday night) and Monadnock landing at 10.

 These two teams did not play in the regular but each has had recent success in the post-season. Mike Curtis’ Spartans have advanced to the quarterfinals in back to back seasons, a year ago they gave Conant their toughest game on the way to the championship.

 Sean Murphy’s Saints advanced to the final four a year ago with wins over Fall Mountain and Hopkinton. The Saints have a big physical frontcourt led by Jimmy Sullivan (10.5), Jake McNeff & Cooper Blomstrom and will try to pack in their defense to limit the Spartans points in the paint.

 Diego Garcia is an all-state point guard who runs the Saints offense and will likely be matched up with Cameron Bosse of White Mountains.

 Nick Bryan uses his speed & strength (defenders tend to bounce off of him) to get to the rim while Nick Guerin is the team’s best outside shooter. Mike Cavanaugh is another shooter the Spartans are going to need to get out on as he as shown the ability to step up in big games.

 The Saints are very good defensively; it’s their offense that has been a struggle. The Saints run good motion and they take good care of the basketball but they lack a go-to guy or a player who can create his own offense consistently.

 The Spartans have that kind of player in all-state guard Jack Curtis (18.9), who has been as good as any guard in the division over the second half of the season. Somewhere along the line, Curtis decided that he needed to be more assertive offensively and since the middle of the season, he has averaged 20.5 ppg.

 Head coach Mike Curtis will throw different looks at the Saints including their 1-3-1 zone. The Spartans lack the size of the team a year ago but have shared the basketball and have a closer in Curtis.

 Expect a low scoring game with Brody LaBounty and Tyler Hicks both playing key roles for Curtis’ team. The winner travels to Gilford on Friday night.

 

 (13) Raymond at (4) Hopkinton

 Hopkinton team page

 Raymond team page

 The Hawks and Rams did not meet during the regular season and for Raymond, it is the culmination of a big turnaround under first-year head coach Jaryd Piecuch.

 The Rams have been led by the Krafton twins Nate (13.2) and Josh (13.0). They will mix up their defensive looks between man to man and zone while also applying pressure defense at times.

 The Hawks have a lot of depth and a go-to guy in all-state forward Kevin Newton-Delgado (15.6). Shepyrd Murdough (10.1) has been very good running the offense while Michael Baer gives them a shooter on the wing to stretch the defense.

 Look for the Rams to switch up their looks quite often to see what works. You can pressure the Hawks but few teams have the depth to do it for 32 minutes so look for Piecuch to see what works and strategically go back to it late in the game.

 The key for Raymond, and any lower-seeded team, is to stay in the game. Steve Signor’s team won 6 of their last 7 games including very impressive road wins against Campbell & Conant. They’ve been a favorite to get to the final four from Day 1 but no one expected Raymond to be playing in the post-season.

 The Rams need to play hard & loose and try to keep Hopkinton off balance. That’s the strategy if they are going to stay in the game long enough to pull off what would be a huge upset.

 

 (12) Belmont at (5) Winnisquam

 Winnisquam team page

 Belmont team page

 Box score of the last meeting

 It was against Winnisquam, in a game we covered, that Belmont guard Nate Sottak broke his wrist while defending a Phil Nichols transition lay-up, ending his season and changing his teams.

 Jim Cilley’s team sat at 7-2 going into that game, including a big win a week earlier over Hopkinton.

 Since that time they have gone 1-7, with their only win coming against 4-14 Hillsborough-Deering.

 That sums up the effect Sottak's absence has had on their season. It has caused teams to double team and game-plan solely around all-state point guard Jackson Ruelke (17.7). It’s allowed teams to dedicate a defender on the perimeter to Belmont’s best outside shooter Keith Landry (10.1) and most of all it has affected their defense.

 The second half schedule got much harder than in the first half of the season when Belmont beat five teams that didn’t make the Division III tournament.

 The numbers though bear out the difference after losing their best defender as Cilley’s team allowed 44.9 points per game in their first 10- games with Sottak and 56 points a game since. A twelve-point increase.

 The Bears have done a very good job of controlling the pace of their games. They lack a true big man or even a pseudo one but they have a lot of speed and very good athletes.

 Sophomore Anthony Robbins has stepped in at point guard (Garrett Mango went down with an injury in the pre-season) and has played very well.

 Nichols (18.2) has put together another all-state season while Gunnar Horman (12.8) can carry the offense for a quarter at a time and Caleb Bushway might be the team’s best offensive rebounder. Jared Seavey does a little bit of everything at guard and head coach Kevin Dame has done a really good job with this group.

 The Bears will try to pressure Ruelke and not leave Landry on the perimeter. The way Belmont stays in this game long enough to possibly pull the upset is to win the battle on the glass behind Isaiah Costa and Landry.

 The Bears are a popular pick to get to Keene State next week but to do so they’ll need to beat their Lakes Region rivals for the third time tonight.

 

 (10) Monadnock at (7) Mascoma

 Mascoma team page

 Monadnock team page

 Box Score of regular-season meeting

 These two teams met on opening night in Swanzey and now will meet again with their seasons on the line tonight in West Canaan.

 Both teams possess high scoring shooting guards in sophomore Ben Seiler (a Division III leading 22.9 ppg.) and Huskies junior guard Jake Kidney (18.4). The Royals beat you with their speed & ability to score quickly while Monadnock wants to control the pace and win the battle on the glass.

 Connor Brannon has really played well over the second half of the season for Jim Hill’s team, averaging nearly fourteen points a game (13.8) in his last nine contests. Kevin Putnam (12.6) has put together a very good season while Tyler Hebert is one of those glue-guy point guards that every coach would want to have on their team.

 Hebert and Putnam are both going to get their shot at slowing down Seiler, who has an offensive game you don’t often see in a sophomore.

 First-year head coach Silas Ayres has done a really good job of playing to his team’s strengths and making sure this group didn’t turn into a ‘We’ll just outscore you every night and try to rest on defense’ unit.

 The Achilles heel with this Mascoma team is that they can be dominated on the glass. The Huskies want to be physical and hold Connor Thompson, Gabe Rock, Ben Schwartz, and Co. to one shot per possession.

 Monadnock has pulled off-road wins in back to back tournaments, and the winner here goes to New Ipswich to face Mascenic on Friday night.

 

 (14) Inter-Lakes at (3) Somersworth

 Somersworth team page

 Inter-Lakes team page

 Box score of Friday's meeting

  Four days after playing in their regular-season finale the Hilltoppers and the Lakers face off again in the one & done phase of the season.

  These are two interesting teams for very different reasons.

  Rob Fauci’s Somersworth teams have been to three straight final fours and their 3rd seed would suggest they are likely going to Keene State next week.

 But this team has never quite found its stride. They have some very good wins on their resume (Conant, Hopkinton, and Winnisquam) and a 14-4 record is very good, but why do I feel like they just haven’t gotten to the level they’re capable of?

 Part of it has been players coming and going. Point guard Travis Wright missed time early in the season and both Luke Monesmith & Jeremy Levesque missed time in the middle of the season.

 This has been a team led by an alpha dog in years past with players of the year Bryton Early & Evan Gray but although Jacob Hamilton would qualify as a go-to scorer late in games they have not found that one player they can lean on game to game as they have in the past.

 Still this is a talented and well-coached group, one capable of being the last team standing.

 With Somersworth, it’s about winning a championship.

 For Inter-Lakes it’s about gaining tournament experience.

 Mike Rathgeber’s very young team did not beat a fellow tournament team all season but as a group made up of mostly freshman & sophomores they were able to win the games they were supposed to both at home and on the road.

 Guard Luke Brown is a player to watch as is Van Buhman. The Lakers have improved as the season has gone along and if this group stays together they look to be a final four contender by 2022.

 To take a step towards the 2020 final four they are going to have to beat a tournament experienced group with a coach who has proven he knows how to win in the post-season.

 

 (11) Conant at (6) Campbell

 Campbell team page

 Conant team page

 Box score of the last meeting

 It’s a lot of fun when the team no one wanted to face in the first round squares off with the team no one wanted to face in the second round.

 I don’t think either Eric Saucier or Frank Girginis were hoping for Conant/Campbell Round III but more than any other first-round match-up in the division, this game features two teams capable of beating a higher seed (Somersworth) in the next round.

 The Cougars got better once they realized they were going to win games as a unit and not led by any one of their three returning starters.

 Whether it was Brendan Rice (12.2), Joaquin Heller (10.3) or Carter Vedrani (8.1) this was a team expected to be led by those three players night to night with a solid supporting cast. Only….the supporting cast grew to take on and thrive in a much bigger role.

 Keegan Mills has given this team a huge boost with his competitiveness and athleticism. Matt Dion and Brody Mills have both gone for over 20 points in a game this season and that gives Campbell more scoring depth than any other team in the division.

 It took the three returnees, each of whom played big minutes as both sophomores & juniors, to buy into this as an ensemble group and not a team defined by who their best player would he night to night.

 Credit their second-year head coach Frank Girginis for creating a culture where that could happen and credit the players for being tight enough as a group to throw their egos to the side. This is a team that has peaked at the right time.

 Tonight they face a Conant team that lost seven games by 7 points or less. The Orioles defend well, Conant always defends well, but they have struggled to close out games.

 They haven’t shot the ball well enough from behind the arc to stop teams from crowding the paint and although Anthony Gauthier (20.9) has been terrific offensively they have not found a reliable second scorer.

 At the end of games teams either know the ball is going to Gauthier or they don’t have a second player capable of creating his own good looks in crunch time.

 Conant knows they can play with anyone but at the same time they haven’t been able to close out good teams.

 Campbell is a tough match-up because they are deeper than the Orioles and they have five players who can cause problems offensively. To win tonight Conant needs to get up early and control the pace while knocking down shots when Campbell shades defenders over to stop Gauthier.

 Expect a good one …and we’ll have all the highlights and the post-game with the winning team.

 

 

 

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