March Madness begins a little early in the NEPSAC as 10 games tip this afternoon and evening heading into this weekend's Semifinals and Championship at Endicott College. Viewers guide and game updates after the jump...
 

Since the NEPSAC did away with neutral court games (almost entirely) the team with the higher seed will host games today with the exception of the Trinity-Pawling/Milton Academy and Phillips/Hotchkiss games which will be played at Avon Old Farms today (3pm and 4:30pm).

For your convenience, here's a link to the games that are being streamed live by the home school.  We'll update this list if it changes as the day goes by:
 

• Class AA - Vermont Academy @ Kimball Union - 2:30pm Tip (if link doesn't work go to www.highschoolcube.com and search by "state" on the right hand side - choose NH)
• Class AA - Tilton School @ Cushing Academy - 3:30pm Tip
• Class AA - Marianapolis Prep @ Wilbraham & Monson - 4:00pm Tip
• Class AAA - Northfield Mount Hermon @ South Kent - 5:00pm Tip

We'll be updating the live blog with scores and news from the games as well as some analysis from the streaming games throughout the day/evening.

For more immediate updates follow me on Twitter: @EBlessNHSP

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1:20pm Update:

Couple of bracket changes...we've updated the times for all the games per NEPSAC's bracket.  Also, one change to the Class AAA bracket that's not listed by the NEPSAC - the winner of the New Hampton/Bridgton game will now play St. Thomas More at Worcester Academy. 

First game of the day is Kimball Union hosting Vermont Academy at 2:30pm, expect an update around halftime of that game.

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3:00pm Update

Kimball Union and Vermont Academy are the first game of the day and its already shaping up to be a good one with KUA leading 27-24 at the half.  Vermont's 2/3 zone has been particularly frusterating for KUA as they've had to settle for a lot of 3's in their half court sets.  Malik Abu has been good when he gets the ball but the Vermont has size and Sedee Keita has done a good job plugging the lane.

Vermont has looked like the team more apt to get out on the break and has gotten some easy looks.  A 4-pt play by Tyler Harville capped a 11-3 run for VA early to tie the game after KUA had broken open an early lead.    Look for Bruce Brown and KJ Santos to be more involved in the 2nd half for VA and I definitely epect KUA Coach Michael Olson to feed Abu either in the post or at the free throw line.  If nothing else it will help collapse the D and lead to easier 3pt shots for Crew Ainge and the rest of the Wildcats.

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4:00pm Update:

Well right out of halftime KUA did exactly waht I thought they would (pats himself on his back) and moved the ball ultimately going to a high/low look that led to an easy Abu layup. This was definitely a second half of runs as KUA went 7-0 then VA back 6-0 to keep it tight.  At one point VA even had a lead of 4 or 5 as the KUA offense went stagnat again but several nice defensive plays were made down the stretch and they were able to pull out the 54-51 win.  Oliver Tot was a bright spot as he had 8 points and 8 assists and had a huge runner in the lane with under a minute to play to give KUA a comfortable spread down to close it out. 

Vermont came to play and shows why they're one of the better programs in Class AA.  Bruce Bowen and Tyler Harville were especially good in this game with Harville hitting the deep shots and Bowen finishing a couple really impressive dunks both on the break and in traffic.  

I don't think this was Kimball's best performance but they'll take the win and relish the fact they have another game Saturday.  They get the winner of Wilbraham & Monson and Marianapolis Saturday at 4pm. I think everybody is looking forward to a rematch of Abu vs. Goodluck but don't overlook Marianapolis, they'll be ready for the Titans today.

Final: Kimball Union 54 - Vermont Academy 51

In the 2nd game of the day Tilton and Cushing tipped off at 3:30 and Tilton jumped out to a sizeable lead on the road 21-10 with under 8 to play. As I mentioned on Twitter I wasn't able to watch a lot of this game as the KUA/VA game was down to the wire but I did happen to see all-everythign PG Jalen Adams blow a layup, miss a 3 and rim out 2 FTs which if you've ever seen this young man play know its pretty rare.  

Once the KUA game ended I was able to tune in and vintage Adams emerged as he broke free and made a sweeping layup  on the left sid eof the basket with his right hand while moving  across the basket from right to left. Vintage.  Not much from Nashua, NH native Kaleb Joseph (headed to Syracuse next year) but we're still hearly.  

Of course as I type this Adams takes the ball on the break, crosses over then throws a no-look underhand pass to Joseph for a layup.  A Joseph steal and layup completed 22-6 run ove the final 8 minutes for Cushing giving them a 32-27 halftime lead. 

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5:00pm Update:

Cushing 2nd half in progress and Wilbraham & Monson and Marianapolis tip off their Quarterfinal in this update.

Tilton hung around in this one for about 10 minutes even getting the game tied at 37 at the 13 minute mark but the defense was turned up and Cushing eventually extended their lead to as much as 17 in the 2nd half.  

Adams and Joseph were excellent in this game connecting on a pretty alley-oop from the later to the former on the break halfway through the half.  Tilton was able to scratch back to 12 late but it was just a matter of time as Cushing closes them out 75-59.

Cushing will matchup with the winner of the St. Andrews/Worcester game where St. Andrews leads 36-32 at the half.

Final: Cushing Academy 75 - Tilton School 59

In the WMA/MA game the strategy was clearly to go inside to UNLV commit Goodluck Okonoboh who quickly scored 6 of WMA's first 8 points.  In the process, MA's best player Bobby Ahearn picked up 2 quick fouls and had to sit most of the first half.  

WMA proceeded to go on a 12-0 run with Ahearn on the bench during the time there was nobody inside to score in the paint for MA.  Goodluck had 2 huge blocks into the stands and between himself and Pettaway they've won the paint battle possession after possession. MA went scoreless for almost 8 minutes while WMA extended their lead to 17 with 3 minutes left.  

Ahearn would eventually return near the end of the half and not surprisingly MA ended the half on a 7-0 run themselves.  At the half, WMA led 30-18.

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5:30pm Update:

While it looked like Wilbraham would run away with this game that was really far from the case.  Despite a double digit lead much of the 2nd half Marianapolis would come back and cut it to 7 on the strength of Bobby Ahearn adn Eric Murdock who each hit 3's to cut into the lead.  

With the lead at just 5 WMAs Taylor Fortin hit a 3 and a steal led to a Marcel Pettway breakaway dunk to push it back to 10. Pettway and Okonoboh have been excellent tonight with nobody on the MA front line able to match up with their size and strength.  With Cobb having a bit of an off night their dominance has clearly been the difference.  

Down the stretch WMA was able to break it open from the 3 point line as Fortin hit consecutive 3's to push the lead to 15 with under 2 to play.  

The WMA win sets up a HUGE rematch of the 2 best big men in Class AA between Okonoboh and Malik Abu from Kimball Union.  Saturdays matchup will definitely be one to watch as these two teams just met on Feb 17 in a game WMA won 74-64. 

Final: Wilbraham & Monson 68 - Marianapolis 48

South Kent and NMH has just tipped and they are tied near the end of the first half at 28.  Just tuning in to focus on this one but from all accounts its been tight the entire half. 

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7:10 pm Update:

The beginning of the 2nd half of this game was overshadowed by the hilarious commentary by the South Kent students calling the game who try as they might could not be impartial to the point where myself and several other folks on Twitter were having some fun with it more than focusing on the action in the game. Fortunately - it did not end that way in what was one of the best games all year. 

To be honest this game was both officiated and played very well on both sides.  NMH didn't get any more calls than SKS did and in the end this was game that both teams could have won and it felt like both teams DID win more than once...

This game was easily the best game of the day and that's saying a lot seeing how the KUA/Vermont Academy game was excellent as well.  NMH had the lead for much of the second half hovering around 5-7 points.  Everytime SKS would make a run or look like they would get over the hump NMH would get a big rebound and put back or hit 2 clutch free throws to keep the lead comfortable enough where it never felt in doubt.  Then SKS's Shadrac Casimir emerged...

Casimir was the best player on the court tonight - he had a 3 pointer and two 'and 1' plays that finally did get SKS over the hump and give them a chance to win.  After a brief stream outage SKS tied the game at 76 on a beautiful out of bounds play under their own basket that resulted in a Romello Walker layup with 28 seconds left.  

NMH obviously had the opportunity to take the last shot with under 35 seconds to play (shot clock in NEPSAC hoops) and they ran a weave out top that finally isolated Earvin Daquon on the right hand side for a layup as he beat a larger defender off the dribble to the rim with 6.8 seconds left. 

The goal for NMH out of the ensuign time out was to double team Casimir but he quickly faked out his defenders going towards the ball then fading to the opposite side of the court heading towards midcourt.  He got the 1/2 court pass and dribbled towards the hoop drawing the D and eventually dishing to a open Tremont Waters who NAILED a 3 from the left hand corner with just 2 seconds left putting SKS up 1, 80-79.

The crowed went crazy - so crazy that the feed cut out just as NMH's Ervin was collecting a pass and heading over the halfcourt line.  When the stream reconnected Ervin was at the line and hit both free throws with .6 seconds left.  A half court heave didn't hit backboard as NMH escaped with a win and will move on to play Brewster up in Wolfeboro on Saturday.  I have no idea if it was a questionable call or not but you have to think that it was a pretty blatent foul for a referee to make that call with under a second to play. 

A wild, wild, wild game - one I was sort of dreading writing about because at the 10 minute mark of the 2nd half all I could think of was the student commentating and their incessant whining about the referees.  Fortunately, the talent on the floor took over and those at the game and watching the feed were given the opportunity to watch one of the best games of the year and one fo the best performances I've seen at a NEPSAC game in a while by Casimir.  

We'll ramp up the Live Blog again Saturday for the NEPSAC semifinals across New England and I'll be at Endicott Sunday for the Championships. 

Final: Northfield Mount Hermon 80 - South Kent School 79