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Brown carries Pelham into title game

 HOOKSETT, N.H. — Had you any doubts on Keith Brown’s drive or his awareness of his place in Pelham history, he erased them in about 160 seconds last night.
Baseline jumper.
Pull-up 3.
Top-of-the-key 3.
Blue-collar offensive rebound hoop.
12-2 Pelham. Timeout Hopkinton.
Yeah, you get the feeling Brown understands what he’s playing for. He and the Pythons, thanks to Wednesday night’s 57-42 Division 3 state semifinal win over Hopkinton, now stand one win away from back-to-back state titles.
The title game is Saturday (3 p.m.) here at Southern New Hampshire University with top-seeded Pelham facing No. 3 Kearsarge.
“The only thing on my mind right now is winning another championship,” said Brown, who finished with a game-high 29 points on 10-of-15 shooting and had a game-high 7 rebounds.
“Coach told us to come out firing, try to get a quick lead and that’s what we did.”
The quick advantage was one the Pythons would carry through the very end.
For Brown, it was a familiar scene with Hopkinton running two and three defenders at him in a series of gimmick defenses. Hopkinton pawed, pulled and probed at him, to the point where it frustrated Brown into an intentional foul when he tried to shove a defender off him.
All that seemed to do was energize the school’s all-time leading scorer.
While Brown shot it well, including 4 of 8 from behind the arc, his teammates struggled (9 of 29 overall, 1 of 11 on 3s).
“You saw him try to keep his teammates involved out there, but when we needed him, he took and made the big shots,” said Python coach Matt Regan. “He owned the fourth quarter when things got a little tight there.”
No other Pelham player hit double figures, although Cam DeLoreto continued his fine postseason charge with 9 points and 6 boards.
DeLoreto might have done more but he was forced out of the game with blood on his uniform four different times, forcing him to switch numbers.
Next up will be 19-2 Kearsarge, a team that Pelham did not see in the regular season. But last night it beat Conant, which beat the Pythons.
“We don’t know much about Kearsarge,” said Brown. “I’m sure (Coach) Regan will come up with something for us to play them.”
 Wednesday, March 9 highlights
Boys Basketball
Pelham 57, Hopkinton 42
Division 3 Semifinals
Hopkinton (42):  Cam Cyr 3 2-2 10, Jacob Rockwood 3 2-3 8, Nick Meserv 3 1-2 7, Robert Wilkerson 3 1-2 7, Kevin McGrath 1 0-0 2, Josh Angell 1 1-2 4, Dustin Rose 1 0-0 2, Liam Flanagan 1 0-0 2, Totals 16 7-11 42
Pelham (57): Kyle Frank 1 2-2 4, Joe Pantaleo 0 0-2 0, Ryan Nystrom 2 1-2 6, Keith Brown 10 5-7 29, Cam DeLoreto 3 3-6 9, Blake Woekel 0 0-0 0, John Granfield 0 2-6 2, Trevor Gagnon 2 0-0 4, Colin Loring 1 1-1 3, Rob Ryan 0 0-0 0, Dylan Andrews 0 0-0 0, Totals 19 14-26 57
3-pointers: H — Cyr 2, Angell; P — Brown 4, Nystrom
Hopkinton (16-5):     10  6 14 12 — 42
Pelham (22-2):     15 15  9 18 — 57