RallyNorth.net

Sizzling Little Green guns down Pinkerton

Friday, February, 06 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

DERRY, N.H. - In your typical clash of division leaders, high school basketball teams just don't shoot 61 percent from the field.
Tell that to Manchester Central.
Sniffing the top spot in Class L, the Little Green kicked the door in at hostile Hackler, drilling their first five shots, eight of their initial 12, to coast to a 64-57 victory.
"(Central) played hard, we played hard in the second half," said Pinkerton coach Peter Rosinski. "We didn't play the way we should have in the first half. I was surprised. I didn't expect our kids to be that off. We didn't execute and we got caught."
Central, almost effortlessly, knocked down 23 of 38 shots - 7 of 9 from behind the three-point arc - keeping the Astros, now 8-2 in Class L, at arm's length for all 32 minutes ... or at least until a final flurry fueled by some spirited and scrappy defensive work from Ben Proulx and Brendan Peguero.
"I think our pressure got to them in the second quarter," said coach Doc Wheeler, whose Little Green simply kept up the hellacious shooting pace while the Astros bounced back into this stratosphere.
A 35-22 Central halftime advantage slid to 53-29 after three, before Pinkerton finally awoke.
Proulx (team-high 15 points and 11 rebounds) flexed his muscle a bit, and the slender senior Peguero had his hands in the passing lanes, helping cause five Central fourth-quarter turnovers.
When Colby Verge (15 points) buried a long three, a Central lead that was 19 in the third had been sliced to six, 57-51, with 1:22 left.
Verge would knock down two more bombs in the final minute, but Central did just enough from the foul line, hitting 4 of 8, to keep it at least a two possession game the rest of the way.
Central and Trinity now share the top spot in Class L at 9-1. Pinkerton and Salem, now knotted in the standings, currently hold the precious 3 and 4 spots.