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Buffalo Wild Wings Division III Quarterfinal Preview

By Dave Haley, 03/01/19, 6:15AM EST

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Tom Pouliot & Monadnock head east to try and knock off the champs (photo by Ben Conant)

 Today we take a look at the Division III quarterfinals with the four winners advancing to Southern New Hampshire University on Wednesday night for the Final Four.

 Nichole Marrero & I will be at Somersworth tonight when the defending champion Hilltoppers host 9th seeded Monadnock.

 Pete Tarrier & Austin Grass will be at the Pratt tonight when 2nd seeded Conant takes on White Mountain Regional in a rematch of a first-round game a year ago.

 Our column today is sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings of Concord, Manchester, and Nashua.

 If your team wants to plan a team outing at Buffalo Wild Wings let us know and we will help you set it up!

 Thank you very much to our Gold Level coaches (who get access to every full game video we produce):

 Mike Rathgeber of Inter-Lakes, John Langlois of Mascenic Regional, Kevin Dame of Winnisquam, Jim Cilley of Belmont, Eric Saucier of Conant, Jim Hill of Monadnock and Mike Donnell of Franklin

 

 Division III

 (9) Monadnock at (1) Somersworth

 Somersworth Team Page

 Monadnock Team Page

 When you get to this point of the tournament you are likely to see officials you haven’t seen earlier in the season and how teams adjust to how the game is called is a bigger factor than you may think.

 In the Hopkinton/Belmont game, I covered Tuesday night the game was called like a New Hampshire Division I game; they let the kids be physical and didn’t call every bump & reach out on the floor. The Hopkinton kids, in particular, Caleb Yianakopolos and Kevin Newton-Delgado, adjusted very well to this. The Belmont kids did not and it was part of what plagued them in a close first round loss.

 I bring all this up because how this game is called is going to play a factor. Both teams are physical defensively, Monadnock in particular, how physical are the officials going to allow them to be?

 Huskies power forward Tim Santaw will serve as the last line of defense between Hilltoppers all-state forward Evan Gray and the rim. His ability to carve out his space in the paint is important for Jim Hill’s team so what you want to look for in this game is how each team is allowed to defend the other.

 Monadnock gets balanced scoring from the likes of Quinn Grover and Jakes Kidney while Gray and Jacob Hamilton provide the scoring for Somersworth. Both of these teams were in the semifinals a year ago and so both head coaches (Jim Hill of Monadnock & Rob Fauci of Somersworth) know how to coach to the ebb & flow of a big tournament game.

 I expect this to be a game in the ’40s with every basket earned. That is a style and pace that either team can win at.

 The winner here gets back to the big stage on Wednesday.

 

 (12) Winnisquam at (4) Campbell

 Campbell Team Page

 Winnisquam Team Page

 Kevin Dame’s team pulled a first-round stunner at Mascenic on Tuesday night and they have a match-up here where they can do it again.

 Gunnar Horman was absolutely terrific in the win at Mascenic, scoring 21 points while Kyle Mann (17.2) & sophomore Phil Nichols (14.5) scored 17 apiece. Winnisquam was able to find open looks against the Mascenic zone early in the game and that allowed them to settle in on the road.

 What you have to keep in mind about this Winnisquam team is that most of these players (Garrett Mango, Nichols, Horman and Angelo Glover to name a few) won the Division IV football title in November after an undefeated season. That tells you that these kids know how to compete and they are not going to go into Campbell expecting to lose. They feel like they’re getting to SNHU.

 Winnisquam is very good at creating their own offense and if Campbell 6’3 power forward Carter Vedrani is unable to go tonight (Vedrani turned an ankle against Somersworth last week and has not played since) then that opens up the driving lanes for the Bears.

 If Winnisquam wants a shootout Campbell will accommodate them. Jonah Crema (11.9) is one of the best point guards in the division while Joaquin Heller (13.4) is terrific in both transition and creating his own shot.

 Brendan Rice is more than capable of going for 20 points and turning the game in the Cougars favor and Frank Girginis has enough depth to mix & match his lineups for 32 minutes. Campbell is probably the deepest team in the division and that can pay big dividends at this time of year.

 I would expect both teams to play at a fast pace so look for a game with a lot of runs. This is the kind of game where one team gets up 12-4 and next thing you know its 14-14.

 This should be a fun one to watch in Litchfield tonight.

 

(7) White Mountains Regional at (2) Conant

Conant Team Page

White Mountains Team Page

 The Spartans knocked off the Orioles in a first-round stunner a year ago, can they do it again?

 They will need another big game out of 6’5 all-state center Zeke Pribbernow. Conant doesn’t have the size to match-up with Pribbernow so they are going to game plan for him by making it very difficult for the White Mountains guards to get the ball into him on the low block. Expect Eric Saucier’s team to try and harass Connor Bosse, Jack Curtis & Buddy Lachance out front and dare a player like Bosse to beat them from the outside.

 Griffin Crane can impact this game for the Spartans with his offensive rebounding. If Pribbernow is being flanked by Gavin Motuzas & Jake Drew that could allow Crane, a very good athlete at 6’3, to clean up on the offensive glass.

 The Spartans have the guards to handle Conant’s defensive pressure; can they knock down the open looks when they get them?

 Conant wants to run man-offense and pull Pribbernow away from the basket. I’d look for Mike Curtis to mix up his defensive looks and show their 1-3-1 zone from time to time. Conant has the shooters to find the open corner 3 and hurt them but I can’t see White Mountains going man for 32 minutes. Saucier will find the mismatch and exploit it. The Spartans will likely put Bosse or Lachance on Peyton Springfield and I wouldn’t rule out a junk defense or two.

 This should be a fun one at the Pratt that we will have full coverage of.

 

(6) Hopkinton at (3) St Thomas

St Thomas Team Page

 It took me four games to realize that all of these quarterfinal match-ups are good match-ups for the lower seeded teams. That doesn’t mean I’m calling four upsets, but in each case, the lower seed is facing a team with similar strengths and weaknesses.

 Take Hopkinton for instance.

 The Hawks have one of the best center/power forward combinations in the division in Kevin Newton-Delgado and Caleb Yianakopolos. They defend the paint very well and both are good passers for big men. The Hawks can struggle against pressure and teams like Campbell & Conant who want to speed them up.

 St Thomas is going to do neither. They also have a big athletic frontcourt led by all-state forward Andrew Cavanaugh & Shawn Dekorne and a center in Jack Benelli with the size to match-up with Delgado.

 They are not a team though that is going to try and speed up the game; they are a good half court team that tries to find Cavanaugh in the paint or on the baseline.

 Diego Garcia is one of the most improved players on the team and his job is to get the Saints in rhythm offensively against a man to man Hopkinton team who defended very well in their first-round win over Belmont.

 The Hawks won the only meeting of the season between the two teams 65-56 but I’m not putting a ton of stock in a game that was played in 2018 and neither should you.

 This will come down to rebounding. The team that wins the battle on the glass and earns extra possessions will likely earn a trip to the Final Four next week.

 

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