By Ryan O’connor
It had to end sometime.
Four years and 37 games after the Pelham boys basketball team last lost in its own gymnasium, the squad dropped its home opener, 54-53, to Class I favorite Portsmouth on Jan. 2.
The Pythons’ last home loss came in 2004 when they still competed in Class M.
“To be honest, when the game ended, not one part of me was thinking about the streak,” said head coach Todd Kress. “But we had some guys in the locker room that felt they let some of the alumni down. They really had this on their minds a lot more than I thought they did.”
But Kress witnessed his hoopsters come within one point of beating one of the top team’s in the state, despite having one of the worst shooting nights in their recent history.
Due to poor weather and New Year’s Day, Pelham didn’t practice for four days between the Keene Holiday Tournament victory and home opener, which Kress said explained – but did not excuse – the team’s flat performance.
“We walked into that game off no preparation and no practices and definitely looked it,” he said. “Yes, we were rusty, but we should be experienced enough to overcome it. We just didn’t look like ourselves as far as shooting the ball, shot selection and our rhythm were concerned.”
Much to their coach’s delight, however, the Pythons managed to turn their anger into a positive outcome two nights later on Friday, Jan. 4, when they traveled to St. Thomas Aquinas of Dover, minus their top three inside threats, and handled the hosts, 63-51.
“As much as the streak was a very nice thing, it wasn’t going to go on forever,” said Kress. “We’re almost done with this ridiculous stretch (of road games), so we just need to get though this next week (and two tough road contests at Milford and Kearsarge) and then we can go out there and start a new streak.”
The 3-3 Pythons open the season with eight of their first nine contests on the road. They finish the season with seven of nine at home.
Though the three losses will make it difficult for the Pythons to earn a top-three playoff seed, Kress said his team is still poised to lock up a first-round home matchup and reach Durham, where the larger court at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gymnasium is advantageous to Pelham’s run-and-gun style of offense.
Against St. Thomas, Pelham – minus starting center Grant Hebert, who sprained his ankle against the Clippers, and backups Evan Cove and Conor McColgan, who were both sick – was forced to start 6-foot freshman small forward Stephen Spirou at center.
For at least two-thirds of the contest, Kress said he essentially had five guards running the court.
“That’s a different, very small, old-school type of gymnasium where the fans are really right on top of you. At the beginning of the year, you look at that game and just hope you can get out of there with a win,” he said. “I’m very, very proud with the way the boys came out, not so much with the lineup, but just going in there after a tough home loss and doing a great job of executing down the stretch.”
Against Portsmouth, Kress said the difference in the game was the lack of a third scoring threat. There was a huge drop between Ricky Costa’s 17 points and Justin Hojlo’s 14 points and the next highest scorers, Hebert and Jamie Vaiknoris, who each tallied five.
Two nights later, Costa delivered 19 points and Hojlo added 17, including 10 big points down the stretch. But Spirou netted eight points and Vaiknoris and point guard Brady Tryon both contributed seven in the winning effort.