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The Sentinel Title Services Summer Thoughts

By Dave Haley, 07/30/14, 8:45PM EDT

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Lorne Lucas is the new basketball coach at Oyster River

We’re two weeks away from the start of football camps across the state and since we are in such a dead period as far as sports (I’ve been listening to Gary Tanguay and Tony Masseroti’s same view on Jon Lester’s contract for what feels like most of my adult life..)
 

I thought it was a good time to take a look at how the summer shook out in high school basketball…

 Lorne Lucas is the new basketball coach at Oyster River

 Lorne Lucas will be named the new head coach of the Oyster River boys’ basketball team by athletic director Corey Parker, pending board approval. Lucas coached at Somersworth for six seasons where he won the 2011 Class M title and became recognized by his peers as one of the top coaches in the division.

 Lucas, who is a Health Teacher at Rochester Middle School and lives in the area with his wife Kate and two children Megan and Ray, now takes over an Oyster River program that struggled on the floor last year and was plagued by rumored internal issues amongst players & coaches.

 Stuart Mitchell was a respected coach who guided the Bobcats to a final four appearance in 2010 but the program, once one of the perennially elite teams in Class I, has struggled since. Lucas has a major rebuilding project ahead of him but goes into it with the pedigree to turn things around in a short amount of time. “ I made the decision (to leave Somersworth) based on the opportunity. I wasn’t looking  to make a move but I inquired about the opening at Oyster River and after talking to people around the program and to the athletic director (Corey Parker) I became very interested.”

 Oyster River failed to make the tournament for the first time in over a decade last season and now looks to Lucas to change the culture in a new look Division II. “They were looking for someone to change the  program and that’s exciting to me. I’ll be able to get into the gym with the kids and meet them in the next week. I’m looking forward to that.”

 Leaving his players and the people around the Somersworth program proved to be a very difficult decision. “ Talking to my players at Somersworth, telling them that I had taken the job at Oyster River, was extremely hard. Those are my guys and it was a hard conversation. I never felt like I was out of a game at Somersworth. Those kids always fought until the end. I told them I still talk to players I coached twenty years ago and so it doesn't have to end as far as our relationship. I was welcomed in the Somersworth community with open arms when I was a new coach from Massachusetts and I’ll never forget that. It meant a lot to me the way I was treated by those people and it always will resonate with me.”

 Here is your Pembroke update….there is no update

 Very little has changed since we last updated you on the situation at Pembroke Academy on Justin McIsaac’s radio show  (Here is the link if you’d like to listen: .https://soundcloud.com/justin-mcisaac/mcisaac-on-sports-4-26-14-pembroke-basketball-discussion

 According to my sources the Spartans are no closer to a Division I schedule than they were three months ago and with the 16 teams in our NHsportspage/New Horizons Coaches for a Cause Basketball Jamboree set to be announced next week I’m told the NHIAA still has to approve Pembroke’s participation in it. Stay tuned…

 Josh Joyce is headed back to Holderness Prep for his senior season

 The all-state point guard from Gilford was ruled ineligible by Pat Corbin and the NHIAA for his upcoming senior season so he will return to Holderness Prep, where he spent his freshman season.

 Joyce had a similar story to Pembroke’s Dominic Timbas but was unable to get his ruling overturned. Joyce spent his freshman year at Tilton prep. as the youngest student in their freshman class. At the end of the year his parents applied at Holderness where the administration recommended that Josh repeat his freshman year because of his age and for academic reasons. After a year at Holderness Josh returned to Gilford where he played as a sophomore and junior for the Alma mater…the same age as all of his classmates. At Gilford Joyce was a two time all-state guard and led the Golden Eagles to back to back quarterfinal appearances.

 The NHIAA ruled that even though Josh has only played two seasons at Gilford and was enrolled next year as an 18 year old senior he was ineligible next season because he repeated his freshman year at prep school.

 Josh now joins the Holderness program after a season playing for the Spartans AAU program under Lewis ‘Big Smooth’ Atkins.
 
 Sean Young ran a very good tournament last week at Epping high school/middle school

 Hats off to the coach of the Division IV champions as he ran a three day tournament that saw Pelham win the top division title over Nashua North.

 Pelham beat Epping by 16 in the semifinals while Nashua North handled Sunapee, another Division IV power, in the other semifinal.

 In the B Division Campbell beat Raymond by one for the title while Souhegan defeated St. Thomas for the C Division title.

 The two gyms are connected by a long hallway and that gave teams the ability to play on different floors under the same roof. Some quick observations from the tourney:
 

  • The best team in Division II is now in Division III……..Pelham is that good.
  • Sunapee is going to miss Jesse Stiffler, who will attend Plymouth in the fall, but no one in Division IV can stay in front of either Matt Tenney or Issaiah Chappell.
  • Epping shouldn’t be overlooked. Nick Padgett has improved greatly over the summer and with Brett Couture (who missed the tourney) and my man Colby Wilson coming back they are back in the mix.
  • Nashua North doesn’t have a ton of size but they have great speed,  a good backcourt and Steve Lane is a very good coach. They could make a move up in a down year for Division I.
  • Division IV will be a much deeper league in 2015. Division III will have five or six good teams chasing Pelham, Berlin, Campbell and Conant and Division II will be at its lowest level in 10 years due to graduation losses and the moves by Pembroke & Pelham to different divisions.

 
 We will announce the 16 teams playing in the pre-season jamboree and the match-ups on McIsaac on Sports Saturday August 9th at 9 am

 I have spoken to each of the 16 coaches and I’m excited to announce the match-ups on McIssac’s show next week….we may even break down a little Rocky IV again as well..

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