Led by a 34-point explosion from senior co-captain Joe Gutwein, the new-look ConVal boys’ basketball team ran away from Milford in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s season-opening win over the Spartans in Peterborough.
“I’ve got to give it to my teammates,” Gutwein said after the 75-59 win. “They found me, they did a really good job giving me the ball, and once the confidence built up, I started hitting them.”
Gutwein scored the game-high 34 on six three-pointers, including a halftime buzzer-beating heave that electrified the ConVal crowd as he launched a fader from deep beyond the three-point line under heavy coverage that left him lying on the floor as the ball splashed home to give him 19 points in the half; he’d add another buzzer-beater layup in the third.
“In that first half, we really, really relied on him,” said ConVal head coach Jay Starr. “It seemed like everything was going through him. They were kind of leaving him open, so he’s got the green light to shoot, and when he has open looks, he’s going to shoot – that’s going to be all season for sure. He’s – offensively – definitely our leader. We’re going to lean on him many times all season. He came through big time tonight and hit some big, big shots, especially at the end of the half there. It gave us a little bit of momentum going into the half and I think we fed off that coming back out.”
Both of Gutwein’s buzzer-beaters put ConVal up just one point, as the Spartans played tough behind point guard Kai TaQuan (20 points) for the majority of the game. But the Cougars opened the fourth quarter with renewed defensive intensity and superior conditioning (a byproduct of the team’s eight soccer players, who just came off an extended season), made stops and ran all over the Spartans, outscoring them 28-10 in the final frame.
“We were a little bit slow on our defense in the first half,” Gutwein said. “Coach talked to us, said ‘We’ve got go on a big run to make our lead comfortable.’ That all comes down to defense, talking, and that’s what we did.”
The Cougars graduated nine seniors from last year’s Division II runner-up team, and aside from Gutwein, sophomore guard Ryan Close and senior co-captain Noah Stewart, there aren’t too many meaningful minutes of varsity experience on the current roster. But, that big 2022 class allowed the Cougars to put the bulk of this year’s senior class on their JV team last year, and that group became tight-knit and experienced in their own way. Senior Austin Klonel provided a nice second-half spark for the Cougars; freshman Max Cail wowed the crowd with a high-flying double-digit rebound performance; Stewart (14 points) got his mid-range and around-the-rim hustle game going, and Close (nine points) made a strong debut as ConVal’s new point guard.
“[Close] really took on that leadership role tonight as a sophomore,” Starr said. “I can’t ask for anything better than that. He comes out and, you know, he’s huddling everybody up, he’s talking the whole game. He had some big buckets there and some big plays in the fourth quarter for sure.”
ConVal (1-0) has a great early season test coming up on Friday night, when the Cougars travel to Manchester West, who return DII’s leading scorer Aiden Scott-Beaulac (22 points per game) and add former Central player Angel Castro and former Trinity player Max Shosa.
“We’re going to prepare as much as we can for them and add to the scouting report,” Gutwein said. “Can’t wait to get after it. It’ll be a tough matchup for sure, but I think we can get the job done.”
Conant 44, Monadnock 41
The Orioles were without two starters Tuesday night for their home opener against Monadnock but still held off a late Husky run to improve to 2-0 on the year.
“The team really came together and stepped up,” head coach Eric Saucier said. “Really proud of the energy, effort, and toughness we played with.”
Jared Nagle had a team-high 22 points; Lane LeClair added nine, and Dylan Adams had six points and 10 rebounds.
Conant (2-0) is at Raymond Friday.
Concord Christian 71, Mascenic 52
The Vikings got a look at the preseason favorites in Division IV Monday night and came away with a road loss. Seniors Dylan Barthel (13 points) and Wyatt Duval (12 points) led Mascenic in scoring.
Mascenic (0-1) was set to host Hinsdale Wednesday after press time and then host Woodsville Friday.
Milford 37, ConVal 28
Senior point guard Morgan Bemont gave ConVal 15 points, more than half their total, in Tuesday’s low-scoring, season-opening road loss at Milford in which the Cougars never scored more than nine points in a quarter.
ConVal (0-1) hosts their home opener against Manchester West on Friday evening.
Conant 47, Monadnock 34
The Orioles handled their road championship game rematch in Swanzey well Tuesday night, as senior guard Brynn Rautiola scored a game-high 23 points to lead Conant to the win. Senior forward Emma Tenters added 15 points.
Conant (2-0) hosts Raymond Friday.