Today we breakdown the four quarterfinal games being played tonight in Division IV.

 The winners advance to Monday’s final four at Plymouth State University where Lance Legere, Lisbon head coach Sam Natti & ‘The Franchise’ Jennifer Chick-Ruth will have full coverage of both games and Friday’s championship game.

 Our coverage today is brought to you by our friends and partners at White Mountains Community College who will be sponsoring each and every one of our Division IV final four games for both the boys and the girls.

 

 (9) Colebrook Academy at (1) Littleton

 Littleton team page

 Colebrook team page

 The Colebrook Mohawks advance to the quarterfinals for the 3rd time in 4 years to face the same brick wall they ran into last season. Box score of last year’s quarterfinal game

 A year ago Littleton was reeling as they walked to center court for the opening tip.

 Their all-state forward Danny Kubkowski had injured his knee in the team’s afternoon shoot-around and the severity of that injury wasn’t known at the time (there were rumors it was a bad injury and other rumors he would play as soon as the semifinal round against Newmarket).

 Colebrook seized on the tension in the gym by jumping out to an early lead. Only to see Parker Briggs throw on his Superman cape and pour in 29 points. Leading Littleton to victory.

 If there was a night Littleton was ripe to be upset, that was the night, and Colebrook couldn’t sustain their momentum for more than the first two quarters.

 So what does Colebrook have to do this time to have a chance to win tonight?

 The Crusaders beat Colebrook 82-47 in their lone regular-season meeting Box score of the first meeting and their undefeated season included wins over Newmarket as well as season sweeps of both White Mountains & Groveton.

 Colebrook is going to have to play their best game of the season and they’ll need someone to help all-state forward Malik McKinnon (13.4) in the paint.

 You know what you are getting out of McKinnon, one of the hardest-working players in the division, but who else is stepping in and either creating second shot opportunities or preventing them for Littleton?

 They’re going to need Carson Rancourt (14.1) to get hot and their guards Kaiden Dowse & Daegen Riff to take care of the basketball against Littleton’s pressure.

 The Crusaders feast off of turnovers. Briggs had 9 first-quarter points against Groveton two weeks ago and three of the baskets were breakaway lay-ups off of either turnovers or baseball pass outlets off of misses.

 That’s how games go from 4-point deficits to 12-points in what seems like a moment against Littleton. Colebrook is going to have to take care of the basketball, run Littleton off the 3-point line and play their best game of the year.

 A lot has to go right for them tonight to have a chance to win.

 

 

(5) Pittsfield at (4) Sunapee

 Pittsfield team page

 Sunapee team page

 The two teams split their regular-season meetings, both of which were played at Pittsfield for reasons I’m still confused by (north/south games were included). They now meet for a third time with a trip to Plymouth State on the line.

 Tim Putchler’s Lakers shot the ball very well against Epping in the first round. Sean Moynihan was really good and the Lakers were terrific at the free-throw line, and now (finally) get Pittsfield on their home floor.

 Devin Bedell is Pittsfield’s best all-around player but the player you have to game plan for is 6’9 center Quinn Bissonnette (I called him 6’8 in the post-game interview and was quickly corrected by Chandler Norris).

 The Panthers big man was terrific against Lisbon on Monday night, scoring 31 points, most of them on fall away jumpers and jump hooks off the window.

 The Lakers have faced the all-state center twice so they have gotten a chance to see what works and what has not. The Lakers very likely want to push the pace and get the ball down the floor before Bissonnette gets back on defense. Sunapee wants to push the ball and get open looks for three’s or drives to the basket when they move around the closeout.

 Bedell is terrific getting to the rim but proved against Lisbon he could knock down deep 3-pointers as well. Tyler Prentice gives them energy and rebounding while Chandler Norris & Jess McGlashing do a really nice job filling whatever role head coach Jay Darrah asks of them.

 This could be the game of the night with a spot in the final four going to the winner.

 

 (7) Woodsville at (2) Newmarket

 Woodsville team page

 Newmarket team page

 Box score of the first meeting

 Jamie Walker’s Woodsville Engineers jumped out early on Derryfield Monday night and advanced to a meeting with Division IV co-favorite Newmarket tonight.

 One of my favorite sayings has always been ‘You need to dance who brought you.’

 I can still remember hearing Jim Calhoun say it on the ‘Imus in the Morning’ radio show before his Huskies played Duke in the 1999 NCAA championship game.

 It was his answer when he was asked how they would attack a 30-win Duke team and what he was saying essentially was, you need to go with what works for you and not try to change anything up for one game.

 Woodsville’s path to shocking Newmarket and advancing to their fourth Division IV semifinal in five seasons is to spread the Mules out and shoot a lot of 3-pointers. Make Jamie Hayes’ team guard them space, attack the mismatch on the floor (and with the Engineers offensive balance there will be mismatches to exploit) and hope you have one of your better shooting nights of the season.

 The worst thing Woodsville can do would be to try to change everything up. It would be like the Kansas City Chiefs trying to run the ball 40 times or the Houston Rockets trying to attack you in the low post. Woodsville has enough good shooters in Brendan Walker, Corey Bemis, Camden Burt, and Connor Maccini to outscore a very good Newmarket team.

 Defensively Jamie Walker has to come up with a plan to protect the paint, where Newmarket gets a lot of their production.

 Will Chase (17.7 ppg.) has gone from valuable glue-guy to player of the year candidate in one short year. He has been absolutely terrific while Logan Willey has had an all-state season at forward. Sophomore Colby Bost is going to be an all-state player down the road, I was first in line on that bandwagon, while Owen Tower and point guard Owen Hayes have been very steady for Newmarket.

 Woodsville has been fighting for a signature win the past three seasons and a win tonight would be a defining one for this group.

 

(6) Portsmouth Christian at (3) Groveton

Groveton team page

Portsmouth Christian team page

 This is the second year in a row that these two teams have squared off. A year ago Derek Summers’ team went up to Groveton as a 9-seed and beat the Eagles ((Box score of that game).

 Having talked to people about that game the perception was Bryson Lund (17.8) beat up on Groveton’s frontcourt and dominated the paint. The reality is a little different.

 It was AJ Chase with 19 points who really hurt the Eagles and after jumping out to a big early lead PCA was able to make their free throws and pull off the upset.

 This time around Chris Corliss will be tasked with keeping Lund out of the paint and this is a Groveton team with better perimeter weapons. Matt St. Cyr (14.8) has been very good this season and Julian Kenison (13.6) is a tough match-up for PCA with his size and ability to handle the basketball.

 Josh Wheelock has been terrific for Groveton and no player in the division is better at reading the defense and finding his spots to shoot from on the floor. Wheelock has a very good jumper and his game is unorthodox in that he doesn’t shoot 3’s and isn’t trying to get you on the closeout or pump fake you from mid-range to get to the basketball. He’s excellent at knocking down 12 to 15-foot jumpers and players today are sort of trained to give up those shots.

 Hence why Wheelock is one of the leading scorers in the division at 19.6 points per game.

 That was a flawed Groveton team a year ago and with three days to prepare Mark Collins, having seen PCA last season in the flesh and on film this season, will have his team ready.

 PCA is very capable of the upset but it’s going to be a tougher hill to climb than it was a year ago.