Seniors Wyatt Davis, Isaiah Michaels and Tristan Hutchinson stepped on to the ConVal court for the last time Tuesday night, and they stepped off victorious after beating Milford 52-46 to improve to 4-4 on the season and snap a four-game losing streak.
It wasn’t the senior night any of the boys had expected when they first pulled on the blue and gold. Tuesday’s game played out in front of a nearly empty gymnasium, cutout headshots of would-be fans lining the bleachers behind the socially distanced team benches on one side and small clusters of family members on the other.
“I mean, it feels weird, obviously, having almost no fans,” said senior Wyatt Davis, “but it’s just great to be in the gym.”
The crowd, attending the first home game they were allowed in to this season, more than made up for their lack of numbers with their volume, getting loud for a Hutchinson bucket off an inbounds pass or a hard drive to the hoop by Michaels.
“It felt pretty good,” Michaels (11 points) said, “because I had people that cared about me around me, and they were actually pretty intense. It felt good, but it feels weird that it’s my last game here.”
The Cougars gave their families plenty to cheer about early on, jumping out to a 12-point lead behind a strong performance from junior guard Christian Buffum, who hit two threes and scored 10 of his team-high 14 in the first half.
Milford, sporting T-shirts honoring their longtime coach Dan Murray, who died earlier this month, came out on fire in the third quarter, as Don Gutterson had his boys firing away from deep to get back into the game. Junior Ryon Constable (14 points) hit three straight three-pointers to cut it to a one-possession game, as the Spartans hit eight of their 11 three-pointers in the second half, while ConVal struggled to communicate their defensive switches.
“Communication is key on defense,” Davis (11 points) said. “We lost that today, and we need to work on that.”
The Cougars have plenty to work on, head coach Leo Gershgorin said, and they haven’t had much time in the gym to work on it. The shortened preseason, pauses on athletics and winter storms have kept ConVal from practicing as much as they’d like, creating what Gershgorin called a “snowball effect” that’s slowing their development.
“I can’t even count how many snow days, how many missed practices we’ve had,” Davis said. “It’s been hard.”
The Cougars are still relatively inexperienced after losing a large chunk of last year’s team to graduation; the result is a team loaded with skill but prone to inconsistency from game to game. ConVal beat Milford by 19 to open the season, but Tuesday night, they barely squeaked by the same Spartan team.
“This team is young,” Gershgorin said, “and we need practice time. When you don’t get practice time, you get games like this, where honestly, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Hollis-Brookline or it’s Milford. Every game is going to be a grind because these kids just haven’t been in the gym enough…I think we’ve had maybe two times this season where we practiced two days in a row.”
ConVal will have to hope for good weather the rest of the week as they ready to defend their Division II co-championship in the tournament, which starts with a road playoff game at John Stark (2-7) Monday night. The Generals are in a similar boat, experience-wise, having postponed a large chunk of their season due to COVID-19 concerns.
The Cougars are itching for a playoff game after their season was cut short last winter before they could prove themselves in the postseason; the reigning co-champs say they’re ready for the next challenge.
Michaels, who recently returned to the team after missing several games, said he was proud of the Cougars for their win Tuesday and thinks they have the ability to make another postseason run.
“I just want to keep going as far as we can get as a team,” Michaels said, “because I think that we have the potential to keep going.”
Davis said he’s not going to leave anything in the tank during his last run as a Cougar.
“Laying it all out on the court, giving everything I’ve got – I know the guys are gonna too,” Davis said.
Monadnock 48, Conant 38
Conant lost their playoff preview in Swanzey Tuesday night as the Huskies withstood a third-quarter flurry from the Orioles for the win. Senior Colson Seppala, who’s 10th in Division III in scoring at 15.4 ppg, scored a team-high 14 in the loss.
The two teams are scheduled to meet again Friday night in Jaffrey and then host them again Monday in the opening round of the NHIAA Division III tournament.
Keene 47, Mascenic 29
The Vikings led Division I Keene at the half Tuesday night, but the Blackbirds rolled in the second half and beat Mascenic in New Ipswich. Jack Cocozella and Gabe Turner had nine each for Mascenic.
The Vikings are at Keene Friday and travel for a Division III playoff game at Hillsboro-Deering Wednesday.
Hinsdale 59, WLC 46
Wilton-Lyndeborough played a solid game against a divisional rival Monday night but came up just short. Senior guard Kyler Tremblay had a team-high 15 to lead the Warriors; JJ Leblanc scored 11; Paul VanBlarigan had 10 and Zach Taylor had eight.
WLC is still looking for their first win of the year. The Warriors were set to play Hinsdale on the road Wednesday after press time and then host the Pacers again Friday to finish the regular season before traveling to play at Mount Royal Monday to open the DIV playoffs. They may have to do so without the services of Taylor, who suffered a bad ankle sprain Monday night.
ConVal 63, Milford 30
Mairin Burgess led four Cougars in double figures, scoring 15, to lead ConVal to their first win of the season Tuesday night. Morgan Bemont added 14; Emily Donovan had 11 and Maddy Faber 10 in the win.
ConVal (1-4) has added one more game to their schedule; they travel to Salem Thursday night before hosting Lebanon in the Division II playoffs Friday, March 5.
Keene 55, Mascenic 49
The Vikings played their best game of the season to date Tuesday, hanging tough with Division I Keene before losing by six points.
“We’re really starting to work the ball well, and our man to man defense is coming along,” head coach Troy Shaw said. “Playing much more aggressive.”
Kenzie Cormier had a game-high 19 points and Skye Lambert added 17.
The two teams have a rematch in New Ipswich on Friday night at 6 p.m. Mascenic is still searching for their first win of the season going into the Division III playoffs. The Vikings are the No. 3 seed in Region Three and play at No. 2 Hillsborough-Deering next Thursday in what is expected to be a competitive matchup.
“I’m excited to see what we can do against them,” Shaw said.