Have you ever known people who just loved surprises? The type of people who would willingly let you blindfold them and lead them down a long pier if it meant there might be a ‘Surprise!’ at the end?
 

Well head coaches do not fall into that category. They do not like surprises and in fact they sort of hate them. Coaches want to know, to the tiniest detail, what they are in for.

 That is the position though that two canceled scouting trips, a nor’easter and an ice storm put Winnacunnet veteran head coach Jay McKenna in Monday night when Londonderry came knocking with a new coach and several stand out underclassman in tow. “We went in blind, I had nothing on them because every time we tried to see them play the weather got in the way,” said McKenna. “So we learned as we went along tonight.”

 Londonderry’s drive & kick offense under first year head coach Nate Stanton carried the play for most of the first half before Winnacunnet’s all-state backcourt fought their way back. In the end a Richie Ruffin 25 footer that was dead on found a piece of the rim and bounced away as Londonderry earned the first significant road win (64-63) of what looks like a very promising 2014. “This is our biggest road win to date and now it’s up to us to build on that with two more coming this week,” said Stanton.

 Londonderry & Winnacunnet looked like mirror images of one another as they exchanged blows in an entertaining first half. The Lancers ran their offense behind talented point guard Cody Ball and freshman Caleb Green and were consistently able to beat their defender off the dribble. A Ball corner three made it 13-10 early as Londonderry began to find their rhythm. “They are crazy athletic, “gushed McKenna. “ We had trouble in the first half keeping them in front of us, no question.”

 Ruffin answered with a drive of his own as the Warriors held a 14-13 lead after one.

 Stanton had his team run a lot of high ball screens in the second quarter and the result was open three pointers off of penetration. Ball pushed the ball off of a Sam Knollmeyer miss, hit the lane and then passed back out to big man Joe Kwiatkowski for a three to make it 21-20. McKenna wasn’t pressuring Londonderry full-court in an effort to keep the Lancers from getting easy baskets but the tactic only served to slow Londonderry down and not stop them. Max Coleman buried a three in front of the Winnacunnet student section to take a 29-24 lead to the half.

 A Drew Coveney trey opened the second half and expanded the lead to 35-26 as McKenna called timeout to settle the troops. It worked as Winnacunnet, with no flow to their offense to that point, began to put the ball in the hands of Ruffin & Knollmeyer and allow them to create.

 Knollmeyer hit a tough drive with contact to pull back to within six moments before Ruffin beat Ball off the dribble and dished out to Anthony Primavera for three. “We took a quick shot on the possession before (a shot by Green on the first pass) and it is an example of what we are working on as a team,” Stanton said. “We want to play fast but we also need to move the ball and recognize the right shot.”

 In the fourth quarter it was Winnacunnet that started getting the majority of the loose balls while the Lancers began to settle for long jumpers.  Ruffin buried a huge three from the wing to tie the game at 54-54 with 3:50 left as he and Knollmeyer made sure the ball went through them on every possession. “They want that, those are seniors who have played a lot of games in this gym and it’s their turn to take over late,” said McKenna. Both came through, Knollmeyer grabbed two big offensive rebounds while Ruffin came up with a huge steal late during a key Londonderry possession.

 A Marc Corey (23 points) three put Londonderry up 58-55 but a chance at a four point play would go by the wayside with a missed free throw. Knollmeyer answered with a nice pull up jumper in the lane before Winnacunnet lost Corey again on the perimeter. The 6’4 junior buried another three to make it 61-57 with 2:17 to go. “He definitely wasn’t in the scouting report, “said McKenna of the untimely surprise. “ He’s a player we weren’t able to prepare for and he certainly was big for them.”

 Winnacunnet though wasn’t going away as Eric Dunn buried a huge three from the wing with two minutes to go, 61-60. After trading baskets and free throws Winnacunnet got the ball back and called timeout with 17 seconds left tied at 63.

 The Warriors though were unable to get the ball inbounds and with all of their timeouts exhausted turned the ball over without ever getting the ball in play. “As a coach that drives you nuts because I pride myself on designing those plays,” said McKenna. “But it is as simple as not cutting hard enough and not setting the right screen, its plays that can cost you games and tonight it did.”

 Londonderry got the ball back and spread the floor. Kwiatkowski pump faked and drove (and might have traveled...), drawing the block on a drive to the basket. The junior missed the first but connected on the second free throw as Ruffin took the ball up the floor in the final 4.7 seconds.

Ruffin’s last second jumper from 25 feet was dead on but rimmed out.

 A very nice resume building road win for Londonderry and one that barely got away from the Warriors. “I think that is one of the top 5 or 6 teams in our division so it’s a significant win for us,” said Stanton of his 2-0 team. “Hopefully we build on it.”

 For McKenna it was one that slipped away in a season that promises to see these kind of games even out. “The good news is we get back to practice and hopefully learn from our mistakes. We certainly lost to a good team tonight, (Stanton) runs some nice half court sets and I thought their guards were excellent. That’s a good basketball team.”

 A fact that after tonight should come as a surprise to no one..