BY JERRY LIPTAKNear the end of a relatively easy 46-31 semifinal-round win over Spaulding on March 12, Trinity’s boisterous student cheering section called in unison, “We want Salem! We want Salem!” Three days later inside the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gymnasium, those fans learned to be more careful with ...

BY JERRY LIPTAKThe 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 ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORTo gauge the outcome of Trinity’s Class L boys basketball quarterfinal contest with Alvirne, you needed only to close your eyes and listen to the Pioneer faithful. When Hooksett’s Cormac Fitzpatrick drained back-to-back three-pointers to open the fourth quarter, for example, chants of “Cor-Mac-Daddy” ...

The good, the bad and the beautiful bring their skills to Goffstown High School on Saturday, March 22, for the Crispin’s House annual 3- on-3 Basketball Tournament. “The 3-on-3 brings out the best in players,” said Al Baines, acting executive director of Crispin’s House. “It’s about having a good time for a ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORIn this game of survivor, the Generals were just another favorite unceremoniously voted off the Class I island. On Wednesday, March 5, the third-seeded John Stark boys basketball team faced No. 10 Monadnock, a foe it had beaten by 24 points earlier in the season. Yet in the state semifinals, not even the senior alliance of ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORHanover coach Tim Winslow and his defending state champion Marauders thought they were seeing double most of the second half. With his team ahead, 37- 19, early in the third quarter of the March 5 Class I semifinal against upstart No. 9 Pembroke, Winslow said he assumed his fourth-seeded squad was well on its way to the ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORWith his fourth-seeded squad playing its best basketball of the season, Central boys basketball coach Doc Wheeler said a 16-point home loss to undefeated Salem two weeks earlier helped propel his young hoopsters into the Class L semifinals. The Little Green have won five in a row since the embarrassing setback Feb. 22, ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORTrailing by 12 points late in the third quarter against No. 6 Hollis-Brookline, third-seeded John Stark started feeling the upset bug that bit No. 1 Oyster River and No. 2 Portsmouth earlier in the day. So when head coach Mike Smith called a timeout late in the contest on Sunday, March 2, it was no surprise one of his ...

BY JERRY LIPTAKThey started fast. They were finished quicker. The girls of Trinity High basketball jumped to a 5-0 edge over top-seeded Winnacunnet. But a pitiless, business-like press from the defending Class L champs gave them a seven-point edge after one quarter. The deficit swelled to 23 at halftime, and the eighth-seeded Pioneers eventually ...

BY JERRY LIPTAKSomeone older and someone newer led Manchester Central to a familiar spot – the Class L girls basketball playoff semifinals. The second-seeded Little Green used 16 first-half points from senior Alicia Doucet and all six team points in overtime from sophomore Christiana Bakolas to escape with a 51-48 win on Sunday, March 2, ...