Though the John Stark boys basketball team defeated rival Kearsarge twice during the regular season, a playoff rematch between the two squads proved costly for the Generals.

After two convincing victories over the Cougars, 81-63 at home on Jan. 30, and 88- 81 at Kearsarge on Feb. 20, the Generals succumbed to their familiar foes, 62-57, in the Class I quarterfinals at the University of New Hampshire on Sunday, March 4.

“That is a program that I have tremendous respect for and I don’t take a lot of pleasure in seeing eliminated,” said Kearsarge head coach Marty Brown. “We learned from our two previous experiences with them that we just had to slow them down, keep them out on the perimeter, cross our fingers and hope that their shots didn’t fall.”

John Stark trailed, 16-10, after the first quarter and 29-24 going into the break.

“In the first half we came out and played hard, but we were giving up too many easy hoops we shouldn’t have given up, and I think that accounted for about half their points,” said Stark coach Mike Smith.

But the Generals came marching back in the third quarter to take a 40-36 lead less than three minutes into the second half.

The momentum quickly shifted, however, as Smith’s team allowed Kearsarge to once again take the lead, 44-40, by the end of the quarter.

John Stark kept the contest close but was unable to make the big shot down the stretch, despite numerous opportunities.

“Kearsarge did a pretty nice job of taking us out of our rhythm tonight, and we threw up a handful of shots that caught every inch of the iron that didn’t go in,” said Smith. “In the second half our guys were in the right spot and were attacking offensively, and it just didn’t go our way tonight.”

Losing 6-foot-4 senior Matt Nims to fouls halfway through the fourth quarter didn’t help, the coach added.

“He had a really nice first half and really kept us in it,” said Smith. “Would he have helped (in the last three minutes)? Absolutely.

But would he have been the difference maker? I don’t know. We’ve never been a team that relies on one guy.”

Game notes
Senior Nick French led the Generals in scoring with 16 points, while fellow senior Travis Therrien and junior Gavin Sappier each contributed 11.