Boys’ Basketball

Pembroke 82, Bishop Brady 22

Key players: Pembroke – Joe Fitzgerald (14 points), Zach Bemis (13 points), Evan Berkeley (12 points), Devin Riel (8 points), PJ Sinclair (8 points), Andrew Fitzgerald (7 points, first varsity points); Bishop Brady – Ryan Casey (10 points), Owen Thornton (9 points)

Highlights:  A tight press defense and a quick transition offense gave the Spartans a 26-10 lead after the first quarter and a 44-21 advantage at halftime. Pembroke switched to a man-to-man defense and called off the press in the second half, but a still outscored Brady 38-1 over the final 16 minutes in the Capital Classic opener. Pembroke will play Concord in the Capital Classic semifinals.

Coach’s quote:  “I was proud of our boys efforts, especially on the defensive end and rebounding. I was also impressed with the boys from Brady who never quit playing despite the score. I’ve been in that situation before and it’s not an easy one, but those boys never quit.” – Pembroke’s Mike Donnell

Records: Pembroke 2-0 D-II; Bishop Brady 0-3 D-II

Merrimack Valley 52, Hopkinton 45

Key players: MV – Logan Gabour (15 points), Aiden Gray (13 points), Trevor Simonds (7 points); Hopkinton – Abram Standfer (17 points), Brayden Crawford (13 points)

Highlights: The Pride started off the with a 9-0 lead, but Hopkinton came back to make it a one score game at the half. The Pride had a strong third quarter and held onto the lead for the rest of the contest, securing an opening-round victory over the Hawks at the Capital Classic. MV faces John Stark in the semifinals.

Coach’s quote: “I like the way our guys played today, especially in the second half. I think this is something we can keep building off of for the rest of this season.” – MV’s Tim Mucher

Records: MV 1-3 D-II; Hopkinton 2-3 D-III

Exeter 82, Bow 61

Key players: Bow – Jake Reardon (27 points, 8 rebounds), Brendan O’Keeffe (13 points), Keenan Hubbard (10 points, 12 rebounds)

Highlights: The D-II Falcons fell to the the D-I Blue Hawks in the opening round of the Queen City Basketball Invitational.

Coach’s quote:  “Tough matchup for us playing a D-I top 10 team. I thought we played hard in spurts and competed.  It’s tough when the other team 1-12 can shoot the ball and space you out. When we clean up the mistakes things will be better in our division. Overall good effort by everyone.” – Bow’s Scott Drapeau

Records: Exeter 2-2 D-I; Bow 2-1 D-II

Portsmouth Christian 61, Franklin 38

Key players: Portsmouth Christian – Cai Summers (20 points), Connor Hickey (18 points); Franklin – Zeke McCoy (28 points) 

Highlights:  The Eagles opened the game with a 10-0 run en route to a 19-3 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 37-14 lead at halftime to eliminate the Tornadoes from the Mike Lee Holiday Bash.

Records: Portsmouth Christian 4-1 D-IV; Franklin 2-3 D-IV

Farmington 78, Concord Christian 56

Key players: Farmington – Demery Hadges (27 points), Shawn Murphy (16 points); Concord Christian – Jaden Young (20 points) 

Highlights: The Kingsmen fell in the quarterfinals of the Mike Lee Holiday Bash to the host Tigers. 

Records: Farmington 4-2 D-IV; Concord Christian 2-3 D-IV

Girls’ Basketball

Franklin 60, Noble (Maine) 40

Key players: Franklin – Lily Cornell (21 points), Kourtney Kaplan (18 points)

Highlights: The Golden Tornadoes punched their tickets to the Mike Lee Holiday Bash semifinals with a victory over Berwick, Maine’s Noble High School.

Records: Franklin 3-3 D-IV

Profile 56, Coe-Brown 50

Key players: Profile – Mya Brown (22 points), Morgan Presby (13 points); Coe-Brown – Emma Lapierre (15 points), Hannah Meehan (12 points), Eilah Crawn (8 points)

Highlights: The Patriots and the Bears battled the entire game, with Profile holding a narrow 28-25 lead at halftime. Coe-Brown fought back to take a 37-35 lead going into the fourth, but got in foul trouble. The Patriots connected on some clutch shots down the stretch to eliminate the Bears from the Mike Lee Holiday Bash in Farmington.

Coach’s quote: “Hard to win tourney games against good teams. Another learning experience for us.” – Coe-Brown’s Joe Vachon

Records: Profile 5-1 D-IV; Coe-Brown 1-2 D-II

Pembroke 54, Bishop Brady 46

Key players: Pembroke – Annelise Dexter (20 points, 14 rebounds), Kaitlin Arenella (11 points, 11 rebounds), Taylor Renna (9 points); Bishop Brady – Mia Wagner (22 points), Morgan Casey (13 points), Payton Bryson (10 points)

Highlights: Pembroke led 30-20 at halftime and withstood a Brady rally to secure the victory in the first round of the Capital Classic. The Giants cut the Spartans’ lead to 38-37 in the second half, but Pembroke scored the next eight points to extend the lead and held on from there.

Coach’s quote: “Brady played with a lot of energy and made it tough for us. We withstood their run and pulled away again. We got key contributions from Hailey Steinmetz and Bailey Gatchell in addition to our scorers.” – Pembroke’s Steve Langevin

Records: Pembroke 3-0 D-II; Bishop Brady 0-4 D-II

Merrimack Valley 40, Hopkinton 39

Key players: Hopkinton  – Shaylee Murdough (15 points, 6 steals), Sydney Westover (10 points, 12 rebounds)

Highlights: The Hawks and Pride came down to the wire in the opener of the Capital Classic, with Hopkinton cutting MV’s lead to one point in the final 30 seconds, but a pair of missed shots allowed the Pride to advance to the semifinals. 

Coach’s quote: “Multiple lead changes with a shot to win the game at the end. This was everything you want from a local tournament. Two good teams playing evenly for 32 minutes.” – Hopkinton’s Mike Mahoney

Records: MV 2-2 D-II; Hopkinton 5-0 D-III

Boys’ Hockey

Hanover 3, Concord 1

Key players: Concord – Jaden Haas (goal), Carter Doherty (assist), Dawson Fancher (assist), Luukus Mayer (26 saves)

Highlights: Hanover scored early in second period to go up 1-0 before Haas scored on a power play to tie the game. But the Bears scored late in the second and added an insurance goal in third to hand Concord a loss in the Brian C. Stone Memorial Tournament semifinals. Concord plays Exeter in the third-place game.

Coach’s quote: “Hanover outplayed us tonight. They worked harder than us and deserved to win. We need to play hard every night and keep it simple.” – Concord’s Duncan Walsh

Records: Hanover 0-3 D-I; Concord 3-0 D-I

Manchester 3, Bow 1

Key players: Bow – Luke Virta (goal)

Highlights: The Falcons took a 1-0 lead in the first period, but Manchester netted three goals over the final two periods and kept Bow off the board. The Falcons will play Goffstown in the seventh-place game of the Brian C. Stone Memorial Tournament.

Records: Manchester 2-1 D-I; Bow 2-1 D-I