Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lebanon | 7 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 44 |
Pelham | 15 | 14 | 17 | 15 | 61 |
Friday, March, 06
By Hector Longo
Staff writer
PELHAM, N.H. - Long before this playoff ever started, the NHIAA granted Pelham High and the rest of the power programs around the state a gift, with higher seeds earning two home games not just one.
The Pythons weren't about to wasn't the good fortune, defending their home turf and delighting the jam-packed house of about 600 with a 61-44 Class I quarterfinal win over Lebanon last night.
"We've got a huge advantage playing in this gym," said Python senior Justin Hojlo who leads his club up to UNH Wednesday night (7:30 p.m.) for a semifinal date with fourth-seeded Laconia. "We felt pretty good about our chances of getting to UNH with two games here."
Hojlo, the state's top scorer at 28.3 points a game, looked pretty darn good, too, slicing up Lebanon for a game-hight 30 points on 9 of 19 shooting. The Eagle-Tribune Super Teamer also grabbed nine rebounds with three assists and a pair of steals.
More importantly, from the opening possession, Hojlo dictated the pace, scoring on a dizzying drive in the opening seconds to ignite a 15-4 flurry out of the gate.
"Their tempo is slow, and they have a lot of big kids," said Hojlo, Pelham's all-time leading scorer. "That's the biggest team we've seen so far, so we knew we had to run."
Leaking to leads of 15-7 after one and 29-22 at the half, Pelham walked a dangerous line.
With all the positive work on the offensive end, the Pythons were getting punished by Lebanon on the backboards, a situation that led to a pile of fouls.
"They beat Hollis (in the first round) and the word out of that one was that everything came in the paint," said Kress. "Yeah, they were hurting us a little, but I kept looking up at the scoreboard and liked what I saw."
If Kress found favor with the first 16 minutes, he absolutely had to love the third in which his team grabbed some breathing room.
Hojlo buried a long three out of the gate. He ended the frame with a step-back trey that had the Pelham student section dancing in the aisles, headed to the fourth at 46-34.
If Hojlo set the table, it was his senior classmate Grant Hebert playing the role of cleanup hitter with a triple of his own to start the fourth.
"That was a real backbreaker," said Kress of the hoop set up by a Sean Sweeney steal and long-arching, cross-court assist.
Stephen Spirou chipped in nine points and eight boards for Pelham, now 20-3 overall and 19-1 in Class I. Hebert and Mike Lombard added eight points each.
JUSTIN-CREDIBLE
Reaching the 30-point scoring mark for the 11th time this season, Justin Hojlo continues to pile up the points at an amazing pace.
Pelham High's alltime leading scorer now has 1,790 points in his four-year varsity career, heading into Wednesday night's Class I state semifinal with Laconia at UNH.
Lebanon (44): Brandon Kuhne 3 2-4 8, Brad Maxfield 2 3-4 8, Jayson Martin 2 1-2 6, Jake Woodward 2 5-9 10, Dillon McCarthy 2 0-0 4, Dillon McCarthy 0 3-5 3, Zach Silva 2 0-0 4, John Williams 0 1-2 1, Totals 13 15-26 44
Pelham (61): Justin Hojlo 9 10-10 30, Stephen Spirou 3 3-6 9, Grant Hebert 3 0-0 8, Sean Sweeney 1 0-1 2, Mike Lombard 2 4-9 8, Josh Boissoneault 1 1-2 3, Conor McColgan 0 1-2 1, Totals 19 19-30 61
3-pointers: L - Maxfield, Martin, Woodward; P - Hojlo 2, Hebert 2
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