RallyNorth.net

Lancers fall short

Saturday, March, 14 By Conor Clancy

HUDSON NH — Cinderella’s slipper didn’t fit after all.

After a first round upset over no. 5 seed Manchester Central, the Londonderry boys basketball team fell in the Class L quarterfinals to another tourney surprise in Alvirne, 54-42. The loss marks the fifth straight season the Lancers have been ousted in the quarterfinals.

Londonderry senior Chris Crutcher lead the Lancers with 13 points while fellow senior T.J. Martinez chipped in 11. For Alvirne 6-5 center Brennan Donnelly had 12 points and 6-4 forward Ryan Sweeney had a game-high 17.

“I’m proud of this team,” said coach Jim Zorbas. “It was nice to see our kids to respond the way they did the other night against Central and how they competed tonight. It just wasn’t our night shooting the ball.”

The Lancers struggled to maintain an offensive rhythm all night. With Sweeney and Donnelly controlling the paint, many Londonderry’s shots came from beyond the three-point line. However the Lancers finished just 4-25 from beyond the arc.

“The three has been one of biggest strengths all season long,” said Zorbas. “I thought that most of those 25 three’s were good shots and good looks at the basketball but for whatever reason they just didn’t fall. We were just waiting for a couple of those to start dropping but they never did.”

With the gym packed to capacity, both teams struggled shooting the ball coming out of the gates. Defense played a key role in dictating the tempo of the game for the majority of the first half as neither team ever established a comfortable lead. The half ended at 22-20 in favor of Alvirne.

After Alvrine jumped out to a eight point lead early in the third quarter, Zorbas called a time out and his team responded. A David Feinstein (5 points) floater in the lane followed by a pull-up three-pointer jump started the offense as Londonderry went on an 8-0 run, tying the game just before the end of the quarter.

Alvrine’s front line of Donnelly and Sweeney proved too much however and the fourth quarter was controlled largely by Alvrine, out-scoring Londonderry 14-7 and getting the win to move on to the semi-finals.

“My hat is off to Alvrine, they did exactly what they needed to do,” said Zorbas. “They are big and tough and we just couldn’t hit out shots.”