NORTHWOOD, N.H. — Like seniors with a pair of state titles on the resume are won’t to do, Joe Pantaleo and Ryan Frank weren’t about to let Pelham High’s hoop season end without a ferocious effort.
“As hard as we fought, we needed that one more play that we just couldn’t make,” said first-year coach Mike Larson, whose third-seeded Pythons ultimately fell at No. 3 Coe-Brown Northwood Academy 66-55 in Saturday’s N.H. Division 2 quarterfinal. “We couldn’t make that next play to get over the hump.”
Slashing the Coe-Brown lead to six (52-46) with just under four minutes to play, Pelham arrived at the hump Larson spoke of. And just like the rest of the night, the climb attempt was thwarted.
Partially by the fate of an unfriendly carom, but mainly by a talented Coe-Brown squad.
“That was the best team we’ve played all year,” said Larson. “We’ve played a lot of the top teams in Division 2. In my opinion that’s the best team we’ve seen all year.”
Coe-Brown missed a free throw, but the rebound eluded Pelham, and the Bears’ Shawn Spenard made good with another opportunity, swishing two to push the margin back to 8.
The foul line would loom huge. Pelham missed three in a row from there, finishing just 4 for 11 from the stripe on the night.
And the hosts kept stroking them, going 16 of 20 for the game, 13 of 16 in the fourth, to lock down their spot in the state semis.
Coe-Brown was a tough barn to play in.
“It was loud in here, with their band and all the kids. It was a tough environment,” said Larson. “But for Kyle and Joe especially, we’ve played at (SNHU) in championship games the last two years. It wasn’t anything we didn’t expect or weren’t used to.”
Pantaleo ended his career in style, leading the Pythons with 19 points and 16 rebounds.
“That’s how he’s been playing all year,” said Larson.
Sophomore Blake Woekel impressed with 16 points, while Frank chipped in 10.
The fab frosh, Drew Brown, struggled with only six points on 2 for 12 shooting from the field.
“It was Drew’s first experience on this kind of stage,” said Larson. “He did a couple of nice things, but he just had a tough night shooting.”
Coe-Brown 66, Pelham 55
Division 2 Quarterfinals
Pelham (55): Joe Pantaleo 9 1-2 19, Blake Woekel 7 0-1 16, Kyle Frank 4 1-2 10, Drew Brown 2 2-4 6, Dylan Andrews 2 0-0 4, Tyler Mercier 0 0-2 0. Totals: 24 4-11 55
Coe-Brown (66): Sam Lupinacci 8 3-3 21, Scott Spenard 4 4-5 13, Shawn Spenard 2 3-4 7, Brody Ashley 5 3-4 13, Dylan Andrews 3 0-0 9, Jacob Snow 0 3-4 3, Totals 22 16-20 66
3-pointers: P — Woekel 2, Frank; CB — Lupinacci 2, Sc. Spenard, Andrews 3
Pelham (12-11): 19 11 11 14 — 55
Coe-Brown (17-3): 19 15 13 19 — 66
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Boys Basketball, 03/11/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
After a lackluster first half (trailing 17-15), No. 6 Pelham owned the third quarter (24-10) and dumped No. 11 Hanover 57-46. Drew Brown (team-high 15 points) hit all three of his threes in the third.
Coach Mike Larson said, ""I'll take credit with the halftime speech! In the first half, we missed 100 layups. We just started making shots."
Kyle Frank added 11 points and Joe Pantaleo pumped in 12.
The Pythons play at No. 3 Coe-Brown Saturday at 7 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
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Boys Basketball, 03/08/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Freshman Drew Brown hit seven 3-pointers (he had 9 in a game earlier in the season) for 21 points but Hollis-Brookline downed Pelham, 63-44.
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Boys Basketball, 02/21/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Freshman Drew Brown hit seven 3-pointers (he had 9 in a game earlier in the season) for 21 points but Hollis-Brookline downed Pelham, 63-44.
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Boys Basketball, 02/21/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Pelham cut to it to 2 and had possession with 30 seconds left but unbeaten Milford held on 47-43.
Drew Brown had 10 points in defeat.
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Boys Basketball, 02/17/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
With 10 seconds left to go, Timberlane's Ryan Allen hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 46-46. But Pelham's Kyle Frank took the inbound pass the length of the court and converted a tough layup at the buzzer to give the Pythons the two-point victory. Frank led all scorers with 17 points.
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Boys Basketball, 01/25/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Pelham stifled John Stark in the fourth quarter, 10-2, to tally for a 45-40 victory. Kyle Frank led the unbeaten Pythons (4-0) with 21 points and Drew Brown chipped in with 13.
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Boys Basketball, 01/06/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Freshman Drew Brown knocked down a whopping nine 3-pointers on his way to a career-best 27 points, but Pelham fell to Dracut 83-74. Sophomore Blake Woekel added a career-high 20 points for the Pythons.
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Boys Basketball, 12/30/16 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Pelham's boys basketball team won its second straight behind the 28 points of Kyle Frank. Freshman Drew Brown added 10 points.
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Boys Basketball, 12/22/16 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
