Manchester
Either way, history was going to be made. In the end, it was No. 1-seeded Kearsarge (20-2) that walked away with a 51-46 victory, its first in school history, powered by a stingy defensive stand in the second half, a come-from-behind run late in the fourth quarter and an all-star performance by junior guard Tom Johnson.
Camp, a Lebanon High graduate who played for Colby-Sawyer College, was beside himself after the game, giving out hugs outside the Cougars’ locker room.
“It hasn’t really sunk in (yet),” Camp said, still glowing. “Once we got up five and Taylor (Mattos) made those two foul shots (in the fourth quarter, putting the Cougars up 51-46 with 12 seconds remaining), it hit me. I was jumping like crazy on the sidelines.
“I realized that dream that had finally come true. I wanted it so badly,” he added. “For so many years, it was me that wanted it. Now, all these kids wanted it. They were hungry.”
It all slipped away from Stevens (21-4, 18-4 in D-III) in the third quarter.
Stevens, playing in its first state championship boys basketball game since 1939 and only its fourth in school annals, found its offense in the second quarter, going on a 9-0 run to retake the lead, stretching it to as much as 20-14 midway through. But the Cougars’ Johnson responded, hitting 10 of his 14 first-half points in the final minutes of the half to keep Kearsarge in the game.
Stevens kept pace with 3-pointers from Zach O’Brien and Parker Smith and took a 32-24 lead into halftime.
The Cardinals built a 10-point lead with 5:31 remaining in the third. Noah Spaulding’s 3-pointer keyed the nine-point second-quarter run, and Stevens maintained the lead into the second half. Shots were falling for Stevens; Kearsarge’s offense stalled. Everything was going right for Cardinals coach Matt Baird-Torney.
And then it snapped. Camp changed Kearsarge’s defensive scheme to man and let his two stars, Johnson and big man Taylor Mattos, take control. The Cougars out-scored Stevens 27-14 in the second half and 13-5 in the fourth quarter.
“I think we just stopped hitting bunnies,” Spaulding said. “I think we were missing a lot of layups around the rim. … I think we were ready for them. We just stopped making layups.”
It took Johnson 44 seconds to erase Stevens’ lead, tying the game 41-41 with 7:16 to go in the fourth quarter. It was Johnson again 27 seconds later, this time with an easy layup to put Kearsarge ahead by two. The Cougars never looked back.
“It was definitely nervous (in the first half),” Mattos said. “We weren’t playing our best game until after halftime. That’s really when we stepped it up and played our game.
“Our goal all year was to do something that’s never been done,” he added. “It’s satisfying.”
Johnson finished with a game-high 27 points, eight shy of the D-III record for most points by an individual player in a championship game. Mattos contributed 22. Kyle Hernon was the Cougars’ only other scorer with two points. Johnson and Mattos were 21-for-39 from the floor on Saturday; the rest of the team was 1-for-12.
“The knock on us all season was that we were a two-man show,” Camp admitted. “Those two are pretty good.”
Stevens’ offense was much more balanced. Zach O’Brien led the Cardinals with 16 points, including two 3-pointers. Spaulding and Parker Smith each had eight points. Richard Bell and Nick O’Brien each had seven. Stevens was 8-for-19 from 3-point land.
Baird-Torney was upbeat outside the Cardinals’ locker room. Smith, Zach O’Brien, Nick O’Brien and Bell all graduate this spring, and a boys basketball championship will have to wait for Stevens.
But the third-year coach said he hopes the environment at SNHU — with Stevens’ screaming fans all in black — will help the program grow so that those in attendance won’t have to wait another 78 years to be part of a state final game.
“I think we did put Stevens back on the map,” Baird-Torney said. “I was telling (my players), we could have won this game and I still think we would have been underdogs going into the next (year). (Getting to a championship) is what it takes. We’ve got to do it again. We don’t want to be a team where we have a bunch of good seniors, then we do well, then we take 10, 20, or even 78 years off. We want to build a program.
“You build it by that fan section and those young kids that are here. They want to be a part of that. (Stevens’ current players) don’t know it now. They’re competitors, they want to win, and it’s going to take a while (to get over Saturday’s loss). But what they just did for the community and the basketball program is almost immeasurable.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.