The math was complicated, but the objective was simple. The Wilton-Lyndeborough boys had to beat Nute Wednesday night to have any shot at the final spot in the Division IV playoffs – and that’s just what the Warriors did.
It was an early playoff game for both of us,” said WLC head coach Malin Segal after the Warriors’ 61-66 victory. “We had to win, us or Nute, and winner gets in, so it’s awesome that we won.”
Kyler Tremblay started out hot for WLC, scoring 12 of his 17 in the first half, and Sean Brennan chipped in 11. But leading scorer Jack Schwab had just five in the first while Nute’s Colby Jenkins scored 10 of his team-high 19, and the Rams were up 31-30 at the half.
Season on the line, the Warriors needed to dig deep.
“Before the game I told them we needed to make winning plays and bring energy the whole game even if our shots weren’t falling, which they weren’t early,” Segal said. “But we continued to make winning plays on the defensive end, winning 50/50 balls, getting out on layups and just pressuring the ball at all times.”
Schwab got the ball in his hands and got aggressive; he’d get to the free throw line an astonishing 22 times in the second half (20-22) and finish with a game-high 32.
“That’s the first time all year we’ve made free throws down the stretch,” Segal said.
WLC got a lead in the fourth and held it thanks to a full-team defensive effort, led by Brennan, who forced a key five-seconds call in the final minute to all but seal the game.
Schwab’s big scoring output moved him into first place on the Division IV points per game leaderboard at 22.8 ppg for the season.
The win moved the Warriors into a five-way tie for the final three spots in DIV’s 15-team playoff; WLC, Nute, Farmington, Gorham and Epping all end the season at 6-12. Once the tiebreakers are finalized, it’s expected that WLC will be the 15-seed and travel to No. 2 Newmarket (17-1) Monday night. The Warriors faced the Mules twice in the regular season and lost both games by a combined score of 175-81, but Segal said his team could make some noise nonetheless.
“I would say we’re a team people don’t want to play in the playoffs,” Segal said. “We’ve done a good job hanging with some of the top teams for halves, and I feel like if we put a whole game together, we can give someone a fight.’