The path to NHIAA Division II championship glory was paved well before the Lebanon High boys basketball team set foot on the court to open its season in mid-December.
Portsmouth, a stone wall in Lebanon’s yearly assault on D-II, had moved up to make a whole new set of coaches miserable in D-I. The Raiders returned four of their starting five from the year before, including game-changers Ryan Milliken and K.J. Matte, and Hartford big man Chris Nulty transferred in to make the rich richer.
Then disaster struck. Matte broke his foot in a preseason tournament. Lebanon’s top returning scorer was on the shelf. Head coach Kieth Matte’s plans suddenly needed to be revisited and his offense needed to be revamped.
In the end, it didn’t matter. Lebanon (23-1 overall, 20-1 league) dominated the division, slowed only by a midseason slip on the road against Hollis Brookline. The Raiders, led by the speedy Milliken and with a better-developed inside game thanks to Matt Eylander and Nulty, took revenge against the Cavaliers in the semifinals, 50-36, at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gym and returned three days later to end Coe-Brown’s title run, 59-42, in the finals.
The win gave Lebanon its first state championship since 1998 and its second under Kieth Matte, its 20-year head coach.
“This is such a special group of kids,” Matte said after his team’s championship victory on March 18. “You look at their four-year record; their record at home is like 42-2. I’m glad that (the boys) get to say that we won it our senior year. Besides that, I’m just sad there’s no practice tomorrow.”
Milliken, once thought of as a defensive specialist, transformed into a scoring dynamo in K.J. Matte’s absence, amassing 70 points in Lebanon’s three playoff games. In the finals against Coe-Brown, Milliken hit a step-back 3-pointer in the final seconds of the third quarter to stop the Bears from gaining ground. He earned D-II player of the year recognition for his effort.
“He might just be one of those special kids that, when it’s that time, steps up in a big way. I think that’s what it is,” Matte said during a one-on-one interview on March 21. “You might go see him play at the CCBA, and he just looks like another kid out there. But when his friends needed him, when his team really needed him, he was unbelievable.”
Graham Chickering finished the season averaging 9.8 points per game and was a crucial cog in running the Raiders’ offense. Eylander and Nulty, both juniors, each averaged 8.0 points per contest, opening up the Lebanon offense with their inside presence.
K.J. Matte returned after missing the first 12 games of the season and averaged 13.2 points during Lebanon’s final stretch. Sophomore Hunter Bienvenu also helped fill the offensive void, averaging 3.6.
Lebanon loses key components, with Milliken, K.J. Matte and Chickering all graduating along with reserves Noah Didehbani, Paul Slabinski and Josh Graham. But Coach Matte is confident in the foundation he’s built and eager to take on the challenge that next year’s team, with veterans Eylander, Nulty and a score of newcomers, presents.
“One of the reasons I feel like I don’t need to get out is that we’re rolling,” he said on March 21. “The system is in place for us to be successful if we continue to do what we’re doing.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.