RallyNorth.net

Thu, Mar 06, 2008 07:00 PM @ Pinkerton

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Playoff Game Class L Tournament - Round 1
Winnacunnet	12	17	18	22	69
Pinkerton	16	17	18	19	70

Cassidy delivers in clutch for Astros

Friday, March, 07 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

Right man, right place, right time.

Pinkerton Academy's Beau Cassidy had the weight of the season dumped on his shoulders, going to the foul line twice in the final minute of last night's Class L tourney first-rounder against Winnacunnet Regional.

Both times with the No. 8 Astros down a point, the junior guard swished a pair, and Pinkerton survived a final-second, three-point attempt by Harry Knowles to hold off the Warriors, 70-69, at Ivah Hackler Gymnasium last night.

Sunday (1:30 p.m.) at UNH, Pinkerton will challenge top-seeded Salem in the quarterfinals.

"National free throw champion when I was 13, it must have carried over," said Cassidy, who hit 38 straight from the line to win the 2004 National Elks Free Throw Shooting championship. "No pressure. I'm not nervous at the free throw line."

Cassidy's cool stroke saved a near-disaster for the Astros, who held a lead the entire way before nearly letting things slip away in the fourth.

"We've been pretty good holding leads when we get them in the fourth quarter," said Cassidy.

Yet the Astros, who led 16-12 after one, 33-29 at the half and 51-47 through three quarters, found themselves in a fight for their playoff lives.

Winnacunnet, which defeated the Astros 63-57 on the seacoast in the regular season finale for both teams a week ago, actually led three different times in the final 95 seconds. All three times, Pinkerton answered. First their biggest field goal of the night, a Jeff Manzik banker, and then Cassidy's work from the stripe.

"They press and run and play hard," said Cassidy. "That's a tough team."

Indeed, Winnacunnet pushed the Astros all night.

Cassidy led all scorers with 24 points. Zach Mathieu, at 6-foot-6, made Winnacunnet pay in the paint to the tune of 21 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks, while hard-nosed Ben Proulx chipped eight points and 11 boards.

"The big thing tonight was the play of Zach Mathieu," said Astros coach Peter Rosinski. "I mean, here's a kid who shot 20 percent from the free throw line last year, and he makes those two big ones for us. He's just come so far.

"And then, Ben Proulx, another sophomore, plays great defense all night on their best scorer. That's two sophomores, who just came up big for us."

Pinkerton, headed to UNH and the Class L quarters for the first time in eight years, now sets its sights on defending champ and top seed Salem, a team that has beaten the Astros twice already this year.

"They say it's tough to beat a good team three times," said Cassidy. "We'll see if we can pull off the upset."