Prior to the contest, Pelham boys basketball coach Todd Kress conceded, “This is the one matchup I didn’t want to see.”

On the other side of the floor stood the same Hanover squad that, last season as the No. 10 seed, beheaded the No. 2 Pythons, the defending state champs, in the Class I quarterfinals.

The Marauders, this year’s No. 4 seed, and their star, likely Class I Player of the Year Casey Maue, once again humbled the locals in the quarterfinals, 61- 50 on Sunday, March 2, at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gymnasium in Durham.

“Just like last year in the quarterfinals, against the same team, we just took too many quick, ill-advised shots, and that’s what does you in against a good team,” said Kress. “It’s immaturity, it’s poor coaching, it’s kids not doing their jobs on the court, and unfortunately it’s (a problem) throughout the program, and we need to fix it. Otherwise, we’re going to get here every year and lose in the quarterfinals.”

Justin Hojlo watched the final six minutes of the contest from the bench. After receiving a technical foul for arguing with a referee early in the fourth quarter, the junior was immediately benched by Kress, who has a zero-tolerance policy regarding such penalties.

“Coach’s rule … Been that way for nine years. I don’t care what the situation is, if you mouth off to the referee, you’re not going to play the rest of the game. I don’t care if it’s the state championship game, they know the rule, they live with the rule, and (Justin) knows better than that,” said Kress. “Obviously if it’s a slap on the backboard or something like that, I look at it objectively, but I just don’t believe in a 16- or 17- year-old young man disrespecting an adult. I’ll live and die with that if I have to.”

The Pythons fell into a 14-2 first-quarter hole, but came back to take a 15-14 lead three minutes into the second frame. Hanover responded, however, taking a 31- 22 halftime lead, which it never relinquished.

Before being benched, Hojlo scored 14 points, pulled down five rebounds and was entering a zone all too familiar to Class I foes. He had contributed four straight assists to four different teammates and his flashy play was causing hasty reactions by Hanover defenders.

Still, Kress contends with or without the star guard down the stretch, the result was a foregone conclusion.

“It wouldn’t have mattered. That team, every time we got within six (points), even when we got to them in the second quarter, they responded with a nice run of their own. It was just a much better team tonight than we were,” he said. “I don’t know what happens if we play them 10 times, but certainly the last two years we had no business trying to beat a team like that. They’re just fundamentally sound and well disciplined, and we’re not.”

Ricky Costa, who instantly became the focal point of Hanover’s defense once Hojlo was removed, added 12 points and three rebounds, while Mike Lombard and Grant Hebert each contributed nine points in the loss, and Evan Cove scored six.

Three days before their season- ending loss, the Pythons beat up on visiting Kearsarge in the preliminary round, 65-44, on Thursday, Feb. 28. The win was their 14th in a row.

Hojlo torched the visitors with 35 points and eight assists. Hebert, with four blocks, and Dan Trainor, with three steals, led the defense.

“We did everything we didn’t do (against Hanover),” said Kress. “We spread the floor out, we made them come out of their tight defense, we used our athleticism and our quickness, and, bottom line, we did everything we were supposed to do to beat a pretty good basketball team. The game was really never that tight.”

Pelham, which returns eight of 14 players, looks to next season. Replacing hoopsters like Cove, Jamie Vaiknoras, Brady Tryon, Dan Trainer, Craig Moreau and especially Costa won’t be easy, but Hojlo leads a cast that includes freshman phenom Stephen Spirou and Hebert, a junior who contributed regularly this season.

Junior EJ Baker, sophomores Conor McColgan, Sean Sweeney and Josh Boissonnault, and Lombard, a freshman, also return for the young squad.