It’s 70 degrees on Wednesday afternoon in Hampton as I write this which tells you we’re nearing the end of the regular season in all four divisions.

 Division IV is pretty laid out for us, where the 8 vs 9 game may feature two teams with a combined two wins over plus .500 teams (get ready for a ‘We need the Heal System’ discussion in the year-end column) while Division III has much still to be determined.

 Saturday morning on The New Hampshire High School Hoop Show Pete Tarrier &  I will reveal the brackets for both divisions.

  Inter-Lakes head coach Mike Rathgeber will come on first to reveal the Division III bracket and then in the second hour Sam Natti, head coach of America’s Team the Lisbon Panthers will be on to reveal the Division IV pairings.

 Listen LIVE by clicking the button right on our homepage or you can listen in on 99.9 FM & 1370 WFEA radio in the Manchester area.

 We will re-cap every single game from Friday night and reveal the brackets.

 Next Saturday Jay McKenna of Winnacunnet and Jeff Baumann of Timberlane will reveal the Division I & Division II pairings.

 

 Division I

 Winnacunnet (12-3) at Portsmouth (14-2)

 Jennifer Chick-Ruth & I will be at Stone Gymnasium tomorrow night to bring you all the highlights and the post-game interview with the winning team

 This would be a fun game without the stakes but there is a whole lot to be gained or lost in this one tomorrow night. The two games these two programs played a year ago were as entertaining as any we covered all year, with the Division I semifinal game being the single best-played game all year.

 The Clippers are the #1 seed today but they still have the Warriors tomorrow night and a very good Alvirne team next week to close out the regular season.

 With the top 3 seeds all getting a bye to the quarterfinals, there is a lot to fight for. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but there is no rhythm nor reason to who is beating who this season…….you want to take your bye and get out of the way of what promises to be a crazy first round.

 Portsmouth’s defense has begun to show flashes of their 2017 dominance. The baseline traps are being executed and if there is a comfort zone out on the floor recent opponents aren't finding it.

 The offense hasn’t always fired on all cylinders but they just don’t make as many mistakes as other teams…they don’t waste possessions.

 Alex Tavares (15.7) is a no-brainer first-teamer; Mike Sanborn (12.2) has continued his knockdown shooting ways (if Sanborn doesn’t  bail them out against Londonderry they lose by double digits) as Max Lincoln turned in a very strong second half of the season. In a pair of wins over the two Nashua schools, it was Lincoln who saved Portsmouth and allowed them to get back on the bus unscathed.

 Calvin Hewitt has been rock solid on both ends of the floor, getting to his spot on defense and moving the basketball on the offensive end and Lance Rizkalla is fitting nicely into the 6-man rotation.

 That’s right, six.

 You can always tell that the stretch drive has begun when Jim Mulvey tightens his rotation and in last year’s case, it happened at Merrimack in mid-February when only 6 players saw the floor.

 That was due in part to his great respect for Tim Goodridge but it also was preparing his team for Durham. Unless Jim Mulvey trusted you to be in your spot defensively and act in the flow of the offense, you weren’t getting in.  Same applies to the game you’ll see tomorrow night.

 Winnacunnet has the size to match-up with Portsmouth and if there is a mismatch it would 6’4 Ben Allen flashing to the post against either Cody Graham or Hewitt.

 Jay McKenna’s all-state center Jack Schaake has been playing very well of late and he has to be on the floor, meaning he can’t pick up fouls early because Winnacunnet doesn’t have the size off the bench.

 Matty F Doyle will do Matty F Doyle things all night but you’re asking too much of him if you’re asking him to guard Tavares, and Portsmouth is too good against zones to stay in one for more than a few possessions.

 The interesting aspect of this one is the fact that the two high profile guards; Zach Waterhouse for Winnacunnet and Cody Graham of Portsmouth have not been factors scoring-wise the past two weeks. Either is capable of a 30 point breakout tomorrow night but it has been a team effort of late for both teams with key players like Travis Arsenault and Max Lincoln really stepping up.

 A win by the Clippers assures them of the top seed in Division I for a second straight year.

 For Winnacunnet, it’s about holding on to the Top 3 seed (Dover just put up 81 points last night on Londonderry  ...would you rather have a bye or roll the dice with that kind of outfit?)

 Winnacunnet wants the bye…a win here makes that likely.

 

 Dover (7-8) at Merrimack (6-9)

 This is the time of year where seniors become very valuable and Dover is loaded with them.

 Seniors have already made their college plans, understand that their grandparents are coming into town for the graduation and that a year from now they are a freshman all over again.

 In other words, they understand this is their last chance, and for a Dover team that has been on the rebuild for seemingly the last five years, this is an opportunity they don’t want to let slip by.

 When Johnny Cantwell missed games in the middle of the season Matt Fennessy’s group could have easily gone down the ‘we never seem to get a break’ rabbit hole but instead they beat Nashua North & Pinkerton without him and kept themselves in the conversation until he got back.

 Since then they are scoring at a higher rate than any other team in Division I, while also giving up more as well. My exact thoughts when they beat Bishop Guertin 76-71 were A) ‘Wow BG is pretty good defensively, that’s impressive' and B) ‘Wait BG actually scored 71 points in a regulation game?’'

 All of which makes them a terrifying first-round match-up for a higher seed because against a team like this, which features Devin Cady (13.9), Ty Vitko (18.5 ppg. and 31 against Londonderry) and Cantwell (12.4 and a ton of rebounds), you could easily be calling a timeout three minutes into the post-season down 12-4.

 Dover isn’t going to be afraid of you, no matter who they are matched up with.

 For Merrimack, it’s been a struggle to score all season long. Ian Cummings (19.6) has been absolutely terrific, first team worthy, he just has no scoring help. Defenses are switching out on him and double-teaming him when he gets the ball inside the three-point line.

 Merrimack, always one of the most well-coached teams in the state, doesn’t have the firepower to get to 70 points unless Cummings goes for 40…meaning they’ll have to slow the pace and try & win it in the low 50’s.

 

 Alvirne (10-5) at Salem (8-7)

 The coverage of Salem is sponsored by our friends at Merrimack Valley Sports

 I’m going to miss the unique nature of Division I where everyone plays each other once and you watch as teams adjust throughout the campaign. No division scouts more and in the case of Alvirne, you can see that teams have made adjustments to the high scoring Broncos.

 Max Bonney-Liles & Co. looked like they could have put 125 up on Somersworth in our jamboree and followed that up by scoring 83 & 79 points in season-opening wins over Manchester Central & Keene.

 Teams though have adjusted as Marty Edwards’ team is now scoring in the 60’s as they battle to secure a Top 8 seed. Bonney-Liles has been every bit as good as advertised and the Broncos have gotten good production out of Joe Canelas (23 points Tuesday against South..in a game they had to have) and Connor Lambert.

 Paul Manzi has shown flashes while Ryan Weston remains a three-point threat who spreads out your defense. Against Salem, they will look to use a similar attack that Portsmouth used when they hit 14 three’s on the Blue Devils.

 I keep mentioning the terrific job Rob McLaughlin is doing at Salem; so what is he doing so well?

 The Blue Devils have a really good combination of patience on offense and allowing their two scoring guards  Zack Caraballo (10.3) and Trevor DeMinico (14.3) the freedom to create their own shots.

 Salem will run their sets and wait for the right shot, taking advantage of the lack of a shot clock to wear the defense down mentally while it searches for the right shot.

 At the same time, their two guards have the freedom to create within the sets and when all of the attention comes their way Nick Hayes (10.5) drifts to an open spot where he can knock down the jumper or pump fake and get to the rim.

 Expect this one to go to the wire as both teams want to be home for the first round of the tournament.

 

 Division II

 Coe-Brown (11-4) at Oyster River (11-4)

 Match-up of two good teams and arch-rivals both in a fight for a Top 4 seed. For Oyster River head coach Lorne Lucas, who had to drive all the way to Lebanon in back to back seasons for an inevitable result in the first round, it’s been a very fun turnaround.

 There seems to be a very good chemistry between Brennan Oxford (he can throw a baseball faster than you), Max Lewis (professional stat-sheet filler), Cam Thibodeau (rock solid at point guard), Joe Morrell (one of those guys who just seems to be in the middle of everything) and Kyle Landrigan (who has the most breakout scoring potential of the bunch).

 Lorne does a really nice job with their defensive traps and he is one of the best when it comes to managing the last few minutes of a close game. Their record in close games  (5-2) proves it.

 We are going to learn a lot about Coe-Brown this week (remember that as I write this I’m headed over to cover the Kearsarge game)….let’s see how this week plays out and I will have a full breakdown of Scott Spenard & Co. next week.

 

 Division III

 Hopkinton (15-2) at Mascenic Regional (13-4)

 A very tough stretch drive for the Vikings ends with Hopkinton at home for senior night.

 I think you’ll see Masonic head coach Jay Starr mix up his defense frequently to keep the Hawks off guard and try to negate their advantage in the low post with Kevin Newton-Delgado and Dustin Rose, who has been the team’s best player this season.

 Conant was able to beat Hopkinton by getting the Hawks out of their offense with defensive pressure. The Orioles did that with man to man, Mascenic won't be able to do that but they can throw zone traps at Hopkinton and hope to turn the ball over. The Vikings want to push the pace and coax Hopkinton into a shootout.

 The play of Zack Barthel & TJ Hiott (never afraid to throw his body around on the low block) will be a key. Mascenic began this week as the team with the most to lose and after their loss, to Con Val last night this game becomes even more crucial to their tournament path.

 

 Gilford (13-4) at White Mountains (10-7)

 The alma mater has to take care of business here and they will have to do it without David Hart who is the latest player to be hit with the flu bug...

 If they do they could rise as high as the #5 seed after Mascenic’s loss Wednesday night.

 This is one of those tough two-plus hour bus trips to end the regular season and there is a pretty good basketball team waiting for them when they arrive. 6’4 center Zeke Pribbernow (14.5) has had an all-state season for Mike Curtis, as had Griffin Crane (13.8).

 The return of point guard Jack Curtis from a mid-season injury has made this team better as the season has gone on and tomorrow night they’ll have the size to match up with Chip Veazey’s team.

 When Gilford is defending out front with Nate Hudson, Korey Weston, Logan Bell, David Hart and Logan Hughes they are as good a unit as there is in the division at jumping the passing lanes and staying in front of the ball handler.

 Greg Madore has been terrific, as I’ve written numerous times (McIsaac knows the exact total in his head) and when Adrian Siravo is playing aggressively, this is a final four caliber team.

 They’ll need to be on Friday night because this is senior night at White Mountains and it’s a program that would like to stamp the regular season with a marquee win.

 

 Coming Monday: The Division IV Tournament Preview