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The Lebanon High boys’ basketball team, which entered Thursday’s contest against Hanover High in 13th place in Division II, pulled off a 38-29 upset of the Bears, who entered the game ranked fourth in the division.
Tyler Ranney came up huge for the Raiders, dropping 14 points, nine of which came in the fourth quarter. Kevin Harkins was also key for Lebanon in the fourth quarter, recording three steals.
To Raiders’ Head Coach, Blendon Salls, one of the keys to victory was something he’s been stressing with his squad for weeks: ball control and ball security.
“Last night we did a really good job of controlling the ball, getting good shots up, even though a lot of them did not fall, we got good shots at the rim, we were being aggressive on offense,” Salls said.
Another key for Lebanon was its defense. While Salls acknowledged his team gave up some size to Hanover, they made up for it with physicality.
With the playoffs on the horizon, Salls is hopeful that a win like this one can instill some confidence in his squad.
“We’ve been saying it all year — if we take care of the ball and we don’t turn it over, we can play with just about any team in our division,” Salls said. “We’ve been trying to convince the kids of this all year long, and I hope last night was an eye-opening experience for them.”
With the win, the Raiders are now 6-7 and have moved into 12th place in the division, which will have 14 squads make the playoffs when they tip off on March 3. Lebanon will next face Hollis-Brookline on the road on Tuesday.
On the other hand, the loss dropped the Bears to 11-4 on the season, which is good for fifth in the division, and snapped their recent three-game winning streak. Cooper Sobel had 13 points while Roy Lucas had 11 points in the losing effort.
Bears’ Head Coach Denver Greene said his squad was battling health issues coming into the game, but credited Lebanon for their performance.
“Not making any excuses, not taking anything away from Lebanon at all — they played a phenomenal game, the crowd was awesome,” Greene said.
Despite playing well in the first three quarters, the Bears struggled in the fourth quarter. “Lebanon just went off, and we had no answer for them defensively,” Greene said.
After the game, Greene told his squad he sees the rest of the season going one of two ways: they don’t bounce back and go through the motions heading into the postseason, or respond well to the loss and lock in even more.
Greene said he was confident in his squad to bounce back. “We have bigger goals on the horizon, and we know it’s not going to be easy. We’ve just got to continue to work and clean up a lot of stuff and have a good couple of weeks to finish out the season,” he said.
The Bears will aim to shake off this loss when they host Merrimack Valley on Tuesday.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Oxbow 62, Richford 48
Key athletes: Oxbow: Jayden Huntoon (33 points); Kobin Ellsworth (13 points) Richford: Keagan Gendron (15 points); Bobby Gendron (12 points)
Key moment: Oxbow started strong, outscoring Richford 22 to 8 in the first quarter.
Coach’s quote: “I thought we ran our offense much more consistent tonight which lead to quality looks.” – Jesse Ellsworth, Oxbow
Records: Oxbow: 10-6; Richford: 9-7
Hartford 85, Otter Valley 49
Key athletes: Noah Jenks (18 points); Noah Danieli (13 points); Rex Banning (12 points); Kole Fotion, Ryan Murphy (11 points each)
Key moment: Hartford led 44-22 at halftime.
Coach’s quote: “We had nice balanced scoring tonight with all five starters in double figures, and all 11 players scored. Big game on Monday (Sr Night) at home vs Burr Burton.” – Mike Gaudette, Hartford
Records: Hartford: 17-0; Otter Valley: 2-11