The Londonderry Middle School boys M basketball team, which is the schools second team comprised of mostly sixth and seventh graders, finished the regular season with an 11-3 record, good for second place one game behind Salem’s 12-2 mark. The last three games on the schedule were exciting with a play-off intensity about them for the Storm team that had held the top spot in the conference for most of the season.
Picking up the season after the Christmas break, the 9-1 Storm boys travelled to Windham where they came away with a 65-44 win in a game that saw 11 players score points led by 10 each by Nick Daileneas and Dakota Bertrand. The boys then travelled up to Concord to play Rundlett. Rundlett had gotten off to a shakey start but had been involved in many low scoring close games. The Storm boys took a 21-18 lead into the half. In the second half the LMS boys only mustered 10 points as every time they brought the ball upcourt they seem to be called for travelling. Rundlett took 20 free throws in the second half with 12 of their 20 points coming from the charity line, as they took a 34-31 victory. The loss dropped Londonderry into a tie for first with Salem at 10-2.
Next up was a trip to Nashua to play a well coached Nashua Catholic team that was sitting in a tie for third place. The pace of the first quarter was hectic as Nashua hit for 19 points. LMS, with 9 players scoring and led by Cam Reddy with 6 points and Cole Britting with 7, put up 30 points, only 1 point less than they scored in the whole game up in Concord. Go figure. Joe Hession had 9 points for the game and Tim Zepf hit a couple of 3′s. Cam McDonald played well defensively and Simon Berry and Matt Corey were tough on the boards as LMS cruised to a 56-46 victory setting up a battle for first place with Salem in the final game of the season.
LMS travelled to Salem on the 19th and got off to a slow start as Salem took a 14-6 first quarter lead. But the Storm boys roared back in the second quarter and went into the locker room with a 21-20 halftime lead. The game was every bit as exciting as the one played in Londonderry a month earlier when LMS went into the half holding a 17-16 advantage. In that game, LMS was victorious 36-34 as Jake Stevens hit a short jumper to win it.
Londonderry exploded for 18 points in the third quarter as David Wiedenfeld caught on fire offensively and defensively with 7 points and numerous steals. Salem put up 14 points of their own, but LMS entered the final frame up 39-34.
The intensity of the fourth quarter was terrific for both squads. Wiedenfeld continued his hot hand with 7 more points, but Salem hit a 3-pointer with 7 seconds left on the clock to tie the score at 50 each and send the game into overtime. Salem went to the free throw line 8 times in the 3 minute overtime period and won the game 61-59 securing the top spot in the play-offs. Point guard Josh Wasserman played his best game of the season defensively and dished out a lot of assists. Jake Stevens had 14 points while Wiedenfeld had a game high 16 points. It was a terrific game.
Each season that I have done this the initial goal for the team is to have a successful season. As the season progresses, sometimes that goal changes. Once it is established that the team can be competitive the goal becomes making the play-offs. When a season starts like ours did with wins over Merrimack, Windham and Goffstown, the goal changes again, as did ours, and you strive to host a play-off game. To that end, the LMS boys have attained their goal. They will host 3rd seeded Merrimack on the 31st. The new goal now is to make it to the championship game for the third time in four years. Merrimack is a very strong well coached team that matches up with us very well. Should be interesting.
The other three LMS teams are also in the play-offs. The girls L team secured the #3 seed. The M team finished 7-7 for the fourth seed and a trip to undefeated Merrimack. The boys L team finished an up and down season at 7-7 along with two other teams also 7-7. Could be third place, could be out of tournament depending on tie breakers. The L boys had to fight through a lot of adversity this year including the loss of two starters to injury, but they played just a monster game against top seeded Lurgio of Bedford in the final game of the season taking a hard fought 64-61 victory at home. Great game to watch.
A Londonderry Resident, Bob Napolitano is extremely active in Londonderry Sports. Bob even published a sports news paper he hand delivered to homes in the 1990′s.
