Lebanon
In the Raiders’ first game of the season played in the gym named for his predecessor, Lang Metcalf, Matte was honored prior to Friday night’s 45-42 win over Plymouth for having secured his 300th career win three nights earlier at Merrimack Valley.
Matte, Lebanon High’s assistant principal, was given a commemorative game ball signed by the team and received a standing ovation in a brief ceremony.
A 28-year-old engineer when he was hired in 1997 to replace the patriarchal Metcalf — he of 507 career wins over 32 seasons — Matte initially had doubts about his potential for longevity, even after the Raiders captured the NHIAA Class I championship during his first season.
“It was a little bit controversial when I was hired. I don’t think anybody (in the public eye) was going to be good enough to replace Lang,” said Matte, whose career record now stands at 301-129. “My first game out, we lost, and the Valley News compared me to Alfred E. Neuman from Mad magazine. My son (K.J.) had just been born, and I didn’t really know how it was all going to go, how long I would last. But I’ve always had great people around me.”
They’re people like Paul Karp, Matte’s assistant coach from the first practice, and Dave Faucher, the former Dartmouth College, Kimball Union Academy and Daniel Webster College coach who has long mentored Matte and is now a Raiders’ volunteer assistant.
Matte and his cohorts have instituted fundamental and philosophical continuity that begins at the youth level in Lebanon. Its defense-first, read-and-react style is one of the most consistent in New Hampshire and has helped the program reach the semifinals or finals each of the last four years. The Raiders are once again contenders, a perfect 8-0 (5-0 Division III) despite the absence of 1,000-point scorer K.J. Matte, the coach’s son, who is out with a broken foot.
“What Kieth has done is built a real program,” Faucher said. “He values effort and chemistry and wants guys to approach the game the right way. Treat officials with respect, respect your opponent and the game. He puts a lot of time into the little things that raise the bar. And like all good coaches, he runs great practices. Very efficient.”
Karp admires Matte’s inclusive approach to handling rosters.
“One thing about Kieth is, it doesn’t matter if you’re a 1,000-point scorer or the last guy off the bench. He really cares about his players,” Karp said.
After winning the 1998 title, Matte’s teams lost 11 of their next 13 playoff games, often struggling to advance beyond the first round despite teams that earned double-digit wins during all but one season from 1999-2011.
“There were some difficult times, but if you look closely at a lot of those teams, I think we overachieved,” Matte said. “We would play super hard all season, but when you get to the tournament, everyone plays super hard. That makes it super hard to win.”
Lebanon is 10-5 in the playoffs since 2012, advancing to the semis three straight seasons before reaching the final in a loss to Portsmouth last winter.
K.J. Matte is now a senior, but Kieth has no plans to move on after he graduates.
“I could hang them up, but I don’t want to,” said Kieth Matte, 47. “We have too much of a good thing going.”
The Raiders overcame the absence of starting center Matt Eylander (illness) and a slow start offensively to lead by as many as 11 and hold off the Bobcats (1-5).
It was the lowest-scoring game of the season for the Raiders, who shot just 34.5 percent (19-for-55) from the field and 4-for-11 from the free throw line. They hit just 9 of 32 shots in the first half.
“You have to give Plymouth credit defensively, but we weren’t on top of our game tonight,” said Lebanon senior Ryan Milliken (game-high 15 points). “Honestly, I think it had to do with playing our first home game and just kind of having the jitters.”
Lebanon still led 22-16 at halftime and gained some separation in the third quarter, going on an 11-2 run to seize a 35-24 lead on Graham Chickering’s layup with 1:28 left in the period.
Plymouth hit a pair of 3-pointers to help pull within 37-33, but the Raiders’ Chris Nulty (11 points, six rebounds) sank a trey off of his own missed free throw, thanks to a rebound and assist from freshman Wade Rainey. That made it 42-33 midway through the fourth.
“That was a huge play by Rainey,” Kieth Matte said. “Noah (Didehbani) got banged up a little bit so we put Wade in for a while and he did a great job.”
The Bobcats closed on a 9-3 run to draw closer, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer from leading scorer Nick Qualey, who had 12 points on four 3s.
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.