CLAREMONT — Stevens High boys basketball coach Ray Curren learned his lesson the first time around. Trying to play man-to-man against Mascoma is a tall task.
Equipping a 1-3-1 and 3-2 zone aimed to stymie the Royals’ explosive offensive attack, Stevens forced them to win from the outside. The shift in defense slowed down Mascoma early and forced a handful of turnovers, but eventually the Royals readjusted to defeat the Cardinals, 54-35, at Carr Gymnasium in the NHIAA Division III prelims.
After scoring eight points in the first quarter, Mascoma top scorer Ben Seiler only scored eight the rest of the night to finish with 16. The Royals depth showed, though, as Zach Thompson had 11 points and Gabe Rock contributed 10.
Mascoma’s now set to host Kearsarge in a quarterfinal matchup on Saturday night at Kehoe Gymnasium.
“The first two times we played them, it was their first two games of the year,” Royals coach Silas Ayres said of the Cards. “They’d had like two practices, so they’ve improved a lot since we saw them. We were just out of sync tonight. Give them credit; they had a lot to do with that. They were playing good defense.
“They were throwing a lot of looks at us. We work on the box-and-one in case they throw it at Ben, and we’ve been working on the 3-2, too, the last four or five practices. That’s basically all we’ve been doing.”
Holding an eight-point lead entering the third quarter, Mascoma (10-4) wasn’t in panic mode yet, but a sense of urgency was evident.
In the opening minute of the second half, Rock hit a jumper and Thompson knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The five points gave the Royals some breathing room and forced Stevens to call a timeout.
Trying to find depth will be even more important if the Royals hope to advance further in the postseason. Michael Loynds gave them a needed bench boost in the second half, not playing a minute until the final two quarters but finishing with six points.
Stevens (3-7) trailed, 17-9, at the end of the first stanza. An Owen Taylor layup made it a six-point affair with 4:54 remaining in the first half. The senior went to the free-throw line over a minute later and hit one of his two free-throws to make it 19-14.
But a deep 3-pointer in front of Stevens bench from Mascoma’s Cole Moulton at the 2:20 mark quelled the rally.
Taylor and Dylan Chambers had eight points. Clayton Wadsworth added a team-high 10 points for the Cards.
“I think you look at this game, and this is a team we want to pattern ourselves on,” Curren said. “We’re smaller; we want to get up and down. We have some athletes. We want to pattern our rise after what they did. And we don’t have a Seiler yet, but we want to run their style.
“They’re a state title contender. They could lose Saturday, but they could win a state title, too. If they start hitting 3s, they’re really tough. I think the lesson is this is where we want to go to.”
A year ago, the Royals won their opening postseason game. It was the first postseason victory for the program since 2014.
The obvious progression in year No. 2 under Ayres is to make Final Four.
“Our goal in November was to play every day like it was our last, because we didn’t know if we were going to make it,” Ayres said. “It looks like we’re going to make it through the season. And now, yeah, I think we’re a Final Four caliber team. As a program, it has been a while and we need to take the next step.”
Note: Mascoma’s now won nine consecutive games. … Curren’s squad was outscored 128-71 in the two regular season games against the Royals. He is the program’s fourth coach since 2018. Stevens was the D-III runner up in 2017. … The Cards graduate Caden Ferland, Brady Moote, Taylor, J.J. Tursky and Wadsworth. … Kearsarge, which edged Fall Mountain on Wednesday, 60-54, and Mascoma did not meet in the regular season.
Pete Nakos can be reached at pnakos@vnews.com.