Back with the weekly thoughts for our NHsportspage members. Thank you, to each and every one of you for being a part of NHsportspage and supporting the coverage of high school sports by our team of Jen, Jon, Pete, Justin, Eliot & I.

 We will be out at two Friday night, both huge Division I rivalry games.

 Pete Tarrier & The Great Jon Kesty will be in Manchester when Memorial takes on Central in a huge showdown.

 Jennifer Chick-Ruth & I will be in Hampton when one of the best rivalries in the state takes place when Winnacunnet hosts unbeaten Exeter.

 Next week we will begin our Mid-Season Snapshot columns with a look at Division III & IV. We’ll pick the two teams we see meeting in the final…the final four teams….plus the lower seeded team that no one will want to face come March.

 Plus player of the mid-year and all-state picks at the mid-way point.

 Note to all of our Locker Room members reading this, if you’d like video added to your page just send me an email at davehaley@nhsportspage.com and we will get it added to your page. To be used for recruiting or to complete your player page.

 See Seth Balderrama’s page as an example: Seth's player profile page

 

 Division I

 Exeter (7-0) at Winnacunnet (5-1)

 If you’ve never been to one of these games, tune in for the highlights on Saturday morning. The three best atmosphere’s I’ve ever been a witness to in New Hampshire high school sports are Manchester Central vs Trinity, when both teams were elite, any Division IV championship game between two North Country schools and Exeter vs Winnacunnet.

 There won’t be an empty seat in the house, and there are few better places to watch a game.

 Depth is going to win this game. Jeff Holmes has it and Jay McKenna does not. That doesn’t mean the Blue Hawks are walking out with a win, it means McKenna is going to need contributions from kids like Evan Welch, Johnny Simmons, and Wesley Falzarano.

 The Warriors will run everything through Jack Schaake in the post and in an up & down junior season, this is a game where the 6’5 center needs to go for 25 & 12. If Exeter has a soft spot it’s in the paint, and although Ethan Imbimbo has the strength to match Schaake, they’re going to have to dedicate an extra body to all-state center if he puts his mind to change the tenor of the game.

 Zach Waterhouse and Ben Allen will give Winnacunnet enough scoring to equal the brothers Morissette (Cody & Josh) in a match-up of all-state backcourts.

 Josh has become more comfortable as the season has gone along, as a freshman you have to pick your spots early. He won’t be afraid to be the one taking the last shot with the game on the line. Cody is handling the ball more and the offense has been better for it.

 Home court gives an advantage but Winnacunnet won a terrific game in Exeter a year ago and there will be plenty of students dressed in black Friday night.

 We’ll bring you all the coverage and the post-game interview with the winners.

 

 Manchester Memorial (5-1) at Manchester Central (5-1)

 Dave Keefe’s Central team is going to try to push Memorial to the point where they take quick shots. This edition of Manchester Memorial has played with a lot more sense of tempo and …let’s call it restraint, under first-year head coach Danny Bryson.

 In years past Memorial has gone for knocking the ball away from behind and jumping passing lanes as opposed to getting into a defensive stance for 90 seconds. Going for the quick steal is high risk/high reward while getting into your stance defensively that long yields very good returns, it also takes a lot of effort.

 Bryson has them defending at a high level to the point where a 56-50 win over Keene feels like progress.

 Central is playing very good basketball and is getting really good contributions from Ding Niyang, Kyler Bosse, and the always solid Antione Revere. Their schedule is about to get much tougher in the second half of the year with Exeter, Winnacunnet, Salem, and Londonderry still looming.

 Their challenge on Friday night will be to come away even on the boards against a Memorial team that has Manny Alisandro, Alec Ross, and  6’6 Dinebari Adumene.

 Central has to get out and score easy transition baskets while Memorial is happy at any speed but can’t get away from attacking the rim. Michael Roumraj is playing better by the week and Tyson Thomas has enough experience at the one to handle whatever pressure Keefe & Central throws at him.

 Pete and Jon will bring you all the highlights and the post-game with the winning team.

 

Trinity (0-7) at Bishop Guertin (1-5)

  Think Jim Migneault will be up for this one?

 The former BG head coach has had this one circled since the schedule was announced.

 This one should be interesting because Trinity can score all day but hasn’t really shown they can stop anyone.

 Bishop Guertin is defending well but they haven’t been able to crack 60 points more than once all season.

 Both teams are really young, Matt Regan is starting two freshmen and a sophomore, all three of whom are going to be very good players down the line, but freshman don’t win you many games in high school. They usually just take their lumps and learn from it.

 Once mighty Trinity (remember when McIsaac was derisively referring to us as ‘The Trinity Basketball Network’?) hasn’t won a game since 2016. They’re rebuilding with youth and have some really fun players to watch. Zach Dagan is a player to keep an eye on, Will Spencer can flat out score and Athei Bol is developing as the weeks go along.

 Call this one a toss-up game; it’ll come down to who masks their weakness better, and possibly who the more motivated group is out on the floor.

 

 Division III

 White Mountains (6-3) at Inter-Lakes (6-3)

 White Mountains, after going through a youth movement the past few years, has become a tournament team again under Mike Curtis.

 Curtis was the head coach of White Mountains when they advanced to the Final Four in 2012 and has returned to coach an emerging team with enough size to give teams trouble in the post-season. In a 64-61 loss to Littleton on Tuesday, the Spartans had one starter return from injury and another forced to sit out.  Zeke Pribbernow returned and scored 14 points with point guard Jack Curtis out.

 White Mountains is in an interesting situation because of their location up in Whitefield/Lancaster. They’ve been playing six games a year against Division IV teams for years but hardly anyone has cared or noticed in Division III because they were usually coming out on the losing end against Littleton, Colebrook, and Groveton.

 Now with White Mountains building towards another run, those wins are flipping to their side, with a 3-1 record against those three teams today.

 Expect Division III teams to start caring again when White Mountains is in line for a top 8 seed and a home game up north. The Division IV coaches in the south were never happy about the arrangement because it gave those teams extra points for beating a team up a division. They’re going to be fine with it now that the tables have turned, but bears watching.

 Inter-Lakes is learning on the fly. Eli Swanson isn’t a point guard, at this stage of his career, but neither is Davis Jollimore. Expect Mike Rathgeber to go to the ‘ by committee’ route. The issue against Belmont was in taking care of the ball and their zone defense, which allowed Belmont to get any look they wanted.

 They’ll get better, but this is a game they need to win, as both teams are benefiting from their schedule right now.

 

 Fall Mountain (5-4) at Mascenic Regional (7-0)

 My quick hitter thoughts on Mascenic after covering them last week…

 I was impressed by Sammy Stauffeneker, who it should be pointed out again, is only a sophomore. I expected to see him stay on the perimeter as Monadnock extended their defense but instead he attacked the rim in the second half and won them a very big game on the road.

 Mascenic still really struggles to keep ball handlers in front of them defensively. They junked up their defense (I mean that as a compliment) to win the game but the issue is their on the ball defense. Monadnock was running a conga-line to the basket in the first half and actually left some easy points off the board.

 Head coach Jay Starr was quick to point out Zack Barthel, also a sophomore, had played his best game of the year in the win. Barthel has good instincts in the paint and finished against contact. He’s been inconsistent, as most sophomores are, but they need him to be a factor if they are making a run to the Final Four.

 Mascenic has better depth than they had a year ago,  TJ Hiott gave them a real physical presence in what was a pretty physical game. Eight deep is good enough and with kids like Stauffeneker and DJ Turner going 30 plus minutes a night they have enough to get deep into the tournament. Their Achilles heel will be perimeter defense and protecting the paint with size (they don't have much).

 We shall see..

 

 Division IV

 Littleton (8-2) at Groveton (6-3)

 I’m not going to speak for my friend Trevor Howard, but I don’t feel like he is sure his young team could go on the road in the quarterfinals and win. I do believe he feels like they can win a pair of home games, and so do I.

 That makes this week crucial to their chances and with a 64-61 win over White Mountains on Tuesday (who had beaten Littleton in their first meeting) they just took a big step forward.

 This is the first meeting between these two since their epic championship game last March. Groveton has a Top 8 seed to play for although they’d be comfortable going to Woodsville or Littleton in Round 2, they’d rather avoid having to go south to Pittsfield, Derryfield or Newmarket.

 Matt Mason is back after having to sit out two games, Austin Lesperance gets his first crack at the team he eliminated a year ago and for Danny Kubkowski there is pay back in mind, but this is mostly a new cast of characters.

 Players like Parker Briggs, Josh Wheelock, Todd Krol-Corliss and Cody Charon get their first major minutes in a major North Country stage for this one.

 Both games will be in front of packed houses (that will be VERY quiet during foul shots).

 With Groveton it comes down to can they score enough points against a good defense ? Can they turn a young Littleton backcourt over?

 For Littleton a win here puts them in the driver’s seat for a pair of home games..and for a young team that will be a huge advantage in their quest to get back to Plymouth again.

 

The New Hampshire High School Hoops Show returns Saturday morning at 9:07 am. Pete Tarrier & Dave Haley re-cap every game from the Friday night schedule while covering all four divisions. We’ll have two coaches on the show every week and you can listen in right here on our homepage by clicking the LISTEN LIVE BUTTON. The show airs every week during the season on 99.9 FM & 1370 WFEA radio in the Manchester area or listen for FREE on the TuneIn Radio App.

 

 Our guests on Saturday will be Buddy Trask of Colebrook and Mark Elmendorf of Bedford.