The question for fourth-seeded Central: how do we, after losing to this team by 16 points on our home court just a few weeks ago, stop unbeaten and top-seeded Salem?

The Little Green found an answer – incomplete, it turns out – in the Class L boys basketball semifinals. Still, they proved they could more than compete during a 46-42 loss to the Blue Devils on March 12 at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gymnasium.

In fact, the Green machine was humming along quite nicely as halftime approached. Will Bayliss scored all of the team’s seven first-quarter points, then led a secondquarter surge that created a 26-20 edge for Central at the break.

However, the team’s best chance to suffocate Salem expired even before the first-half clock did; ahead by 10 with less than 20 seconds remaining, Central allowed Mike Kimball, who poured in a game-high 23 points, and Kevin Sledge to hit buckets.

Kimball added the first five points of the third quarter, and suddenly the Little Green lead had virtually vanished. It was gone by the end of the third quarter, and despite the best efforts of senior Michael Stys, who nailed half of his eight threepoint attempts, Central never took the lead again.

“The toughest thing for me right now is to go and console (those) kids,” said Central’s head coach, Dave Wheeler, who devised a game plan revolving around Bayliss’ relentless defensive pressure on Josh Jones, Salem’s leading scorer.

After amassing 29 points in the teams’ last meeting, Jones scored just two, but those two were game-clinching points; the Blue Devils’ junior canned a pair of free throws with 10.2 second remaining, effectively putting the game out of Central’s reach.

Bayliss and Stys, as usual, keyed the Little Green, combining for more than 80 percent of the offense. Bayliss scored all 15 of his points before the break, while Stys netted 12 of his 20 points after halftime.

“(Stys) is asked to do more than probably any player in the league,” said Wheeler. “He leads us in scoring every game, has to guard the other team’s best big man, and he’s got to handle the rebounding.”

Though he loses the soongraduating Stys, Bayliss returns.

“(Bayliss) has one of those unique traits. People look in his eyes, and there’s a resolve there, a determination, that lifts up his teammates and his coaches,” said Wheeler. “It’s more than just basketball. He’s going to be a leader in whatever he chooses.”

Salem’s coach, E.J. Perry, said he was happy to be through with Bayliss until next winter.

“He was the best point guard I’ve seen this year,” said Perry.

Seamus O’Neill and Philip Hayden added four and three points, respectively, to round out Central’s scoring. Like Bayliss, they’ll return for the 2008-’09 season, as will Zachary Collins, Connor Spiro and Brett Parenteau, who gained valuable experience in the team’s three-game Class L postseason run.

In addition to Stys, the Little Green lose long-range shooter Matthew Shaughnessy, along with guard Robert Lucas and forward Matthew Paulson.