10 For 10

10 For 10: The top boys basketball players and teams

The last decade of boys basketball has seen some programs make exciting runs to the top of their respective divisions behind some talented individuals.

Manchester Central’s Doc Wheeler, Tyler Kelley and Jon Martin pose with the Division I championship plaque.

The last decade of boys basketball has seen some programs make exciting runs to the top of their respective divisions behind some talented individuals.

This week’s list includes nine players who went on to play, or are currently playing, at the next level after putting together high school careers that will be talked about for years to come.

The following are the top boys basketball players and teams I’ve covered for this website over the last 10 years, with players listed in alphabetical order and the teams listed chronologically.

Top Players

Cody Ball, Londonderry (2012-15): As a senior, Ball helped lead the Lancers to an undefeated season and the program’s only championship. A four-year varsity player, he was named D1 Player of the Year in 2015, as he led the division in scoring. Continued his playing career at St. Anselm College.
Keith Brown, Pelham (2013-16): Brown was a four-year varsity player and three-time first-team all-state performer while also being named the D3 Player of the Year twice and the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior. He led Pelham to back-to-back D3 championships as a junior and senior and is the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,978 points. Is currently a member of the Endicott College men’s basketball team.
Eric Gendron, Merrimack (2011-14): Gendron was a member of Merrimack’s 2012 D1 championship as a sophomore and helped the Tomahawks get to the final as a senior. He was named Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior and the D1 Player of the Year as a senior. Finished with 1,329 points in his career, the seventh Merrimack player to reach the 1,000-point milestone. Continued his playing career at Trinity College.
Joey Glynn, Portsmouth (2014-17): A four-year varsity player, the Clippers were in the championship game in each season, winning back-to-back titles in Glynn’s junior and senior year, going undefeated both years. As a senior, Glynn averaged a double double and was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Portsmouth’s first season back in D1. He also reached the 1,000-point milestone. Is currently a member of the UMass-Lowell men’s basketball team.
Cody Graham, Portsmouth (2015-18): Graham was also a four-year varsity player for Portsmouth, helping the Clippers to final each year and winning three of them, two in D1. A four-time all-state performer, Graham finished his high school career at Portsmouth’s all-time leading scorer. Is currently a member of the Plymouth State University men’s basketball team.
Connor Green, Bishop Guertin (2008-11): Green helped lead the Cardinals to the D1 championship as a senior, the program’s first title since 1983. He was named the Gatorade Player of the Year during that season, as he averaged 20.6 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, and continued that pace in the postseason, averaging 22 points and 11.7 rebounds in Bishop Guertin’s final three games. Continued his playing career at Amherst College.
Brandon Len, Souhegan (2010-13): Len graduated as the all-time leading scorer in Souhegan’s program and helped lead the Sabers to the final four twice, including the D2 championship game in 2013. Was a two-time D2 first-team all-state player and the division’s leading scorer as a senior, including a 33-point game in Souhegan’s quarterfinal upset at Portsmouth on the way to the final that year.
KJ Matte, Lebanon (2014-17): Matte was a 1,000-point scorer and a four-time all-state performer for the Raiders. Lebanon reached the final four in all four of Matte’s years on the team, and the Raiders advanced to the final in 2016 before winning the D2 title during Matte’s senior season. Is currently a member of the Bowdoin College men’s basketball team.
Michael O’Loughlin, Milford (2008-11): O’Loughlin was a four-year varsity player for Milford, leading the Spartans to back-to-back D2 titles as a junior and senior. Was also an all-state first-team selection during those two seasons and finished his high school career with 1,468 points, setting Milford’s scoring record. Continued his playing career at Trinity College before transferring to Wheaton College.
Patrick Welch, Pembroke (2011-14): Welch helped lead the Spartans to back-to-back titles and a 43-1 record in those two seasons. He reached the 1,000-point scoring mark as a junior and finished his high school career with 1,907 points. Continued his playing career at the University of South Carolina Upstate.

Top Teams

2011 Milford: We’ll go with the second of back-to-back champions because this Spartans team went undefeated. The core of each team remained the same, and as seniors, Michael O’Loughlin, Jamie Holder and Mike Mitchell were dominant, as Milford had just five games all season decided by less than 10 points. In the final, the Spartans held off Portsmouth for a 48-42 win.
2011 Bishop Guertin: After losing in the semifinals the year before, the Cardinals were determined to get back and move on to the final. Led by Connor Green and Sean McClung, Bishop Guertin won its final 15 games in a row, many of them by double digits, before beating Trinity 54-46 in the D1 final.
2012 Merrimack: The fact the Tomahawks went into the tournament with six losses and were the seventh seed was a bit deceiving, as Merrimack played a big portion of the regular season without junior Dimitri Floras. With Tyler Gendron, the Gatorade Player of the Year, and his brother, Eric, leading the way, the Tomahawks stayed afloat, and when Floras returned, they soared, beating Manchester Central 65-56 in the final.
2014 Manchester Central: Led by Brett Hanson and Jon and Joey Martin, the Little Green could do just about anything they wanted to on the court. Central went undefeated to win the D1 title, beating Merrimack 70-61 in the championship in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score.
2015 Pelham: The first of the Pythons’ back-to-back D3 championship teams, Pelham had the division’s Player of the Year in Keith Brown, the Coach of the Year in Matt Regan, and Ryan Cloutier (first-team) and Dylan Silvestri (second-team) also earned all-state honors. Pelham took down Conant in the title game 51-42.
2015 Wilton-Lyndeborough: OK, this one might be a stretch, but this team was a lot of fun to watch. Led by Jordan Litts, the Warriors went on to win the program’s only championship, beating Epping 50-46 in a game that came down to the wire. Litts had had 19 of his 22 points in the second half of the title game, including five in the final minute to clinch the win.
2017 Portsmouth: After a run of seven D2 title-game appearances in 10 years, including three wins, the Clippers moved up to D1 and continued to dominate. Portsmouth stretched its win streak to 43 games and won its second title in a row with a 63-40 win over Bedford. Some stats from the second half of that game showed how versatile Portsmouth was, as the Clippers shot 77.3 percent from the field – including 6 of 7 on 3s – and outscored Bedford 26-14 in the paint, with 11 second-chance points.
2018 Hollis Brookline: While many of the teams on the list are here because they could win in any way, this Cavaliers team was never going to outshoot anybody. HB was dominant inside the paint behind seniors Matt Simco and Matthew Dowling, and was able to be more physical than opponents on the way to a 56-40 win over Oyster River in the D2 final.
2019 Exeter: A year after getting upset in the D1 semifinals, the Blue Hawks were a team on a mission, as Exeter went undefeated on its way to the program’s first championship since 1977. In the final, Exeter’s defense dominated Salem in the second half on the way to a 53-30 victory.

Did any of these players or teams make your list as well? Comment on here, or on Facebook or Twitter, to share your top boys basketball players and teams from the last decade.

Next week, I’ll have lists of the top girls athletes and teams.

Did you miss any of our previous lists? Check them out below.