Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 2/15/2022 10:48:52 PM
The Cougars learned their lesson last week. After missing free throws down the stretch and allowing a near-comeback in their narrow quarterfinal win over Sanborn, No. 3 ConVal cleaned up their end-of-game execution in Tuesday’s semifinal win, going near-perfect from the line to beat No. 2 Pelham 58-47 and advance to the Division II championship game.
“It’s something we’ve really worked on the last couple days after the Sanborn scare,” ConVal head coach Jay Starr said after the game at Oyster River High School, “where we missed a lot of shots and turned the ball over. We really worked on this for two straight days, how to close out a game.”
ConVal went 21-25 from the free throw line (14-16 in the fourth quarter) to put the game on ice late after a back-and-forth battle through three quarters. Pelham senior guard Jake McGlinchey was on his game, showing off his array of sneaky reverse layups and wraparound passes on his way to 21 points.
“That kid is something,” Starr said. “He’s tough to stay in front of, with all these Rajon Rondo-style moves that he’s doing. And he’s tough to stop.”
ConVal’s defense buckled down in the second period, holding McGlinchey to just one bucket and Pelham to just seven points on 33 percent free throw shooting, and the Cougars took a 28-25 lead into the half.
It was the third time the two teams squared off this season; Pelham won the first meeting at home and lost in the Cougar Cave, and there were no surprises Tuesday night for either team.
“They knew what we were gonna do,” Pelham head coach Mike Larson said. “We knew what they were gonna do. At the end of the day, they came out and executed plays and made shots and we did not. And that’s the difference in the game.”
Still, Pelham was right in it in the third, where six points from McGlinchey had Pelham up 48-47 with seconds remaining. That’s when ConVal’s senior point guard Austin Knight, the Cougars’ captain clutch, stepped into a 30-foot buzzerbeater three that blew the roof off the ConVal fan section and gave the blue-and-gold a lead entering the fourth.
“Austin really was money,” Starr said. “He kind of had us on his shoulders there for a little while; when some of the other guys weren’t really playing good offensively, he played great. You could tell he wanted all that pressure.”
The Cougars held onto their slim lead and began to extend it at the line; Joe Gutwein (11 points) and Christian Buffum were perfect from the stripe in the fourth, and Knight hit seven of eight to finish with 21 points and send ConVal to their first championship game since 2000.
“It feels really good,” said senior center Owen McGuire. “My first ever basketball championship in high school, and I think we’re all just ready to go.”
ConVal (18-3) will play No. 1 Souhegan (19-1) for the state championship Sunday at 1 p.m. at UNH. The Sabers beat Lebanon 41-32 in the late semifinal to advance to face the Cougars; Souhegan beat ConVal 45-42 in the regular season.
ConVal has three players – Knight, Malachi Page and Owen Michaels – who won a shared state championship in 2020, but since COVID canceled the majority of the tournament, none of those players ever even played in a semifinal game at UNH, let alone a championship. But Coach Starr said that this season of marquee wins, with big victories over Lebanon, Pelham, Sanborn and the like, has his boys ready for anything.
“We’ve been battle tested all season long,” Starr said, “and I think Sunday’s gonna be no different. We’re ready to go – we’re ready for sure.”
Sunday will mark ConVal’s sixth championship game appearance; the Cougars won state titles in 1986 and 1994, and most recently played for a state title in 2000, where they lost to Goffstown.