Central knocks off top-seeded Trinity in two overtimes to advance to D1 title game

DURHAM – It didn’t look good for the Manchester Central High School boys basketball team.

With half of the third quarter gone in Tuesday’s Division I semifinal against Trinity at the University of New Hampshire, the fourth-seeded Little Green had yet to score in the second half and trailed by nine points to the top-seeded Pioneers.

But somehow, in less than three minutes, the game was tied. Trinity went back ahead, but then the game was tied again. And again. And again at the end of regulation. And one more time at the end of the first overtime.

Central finally completed its comeback and put the game away in a second overtime, knocking off Trinity 59-56 to advance to the final for the first time since winning it all in 2006. There, the Little Green will face No. 7 Merrimack, the team it defeated to win its most recent title.

Troy Pelletier led Central (16-5) with a game-high 26 points, 17 of which came after halftime, while Gabe Lacount (seven rebounds) and Junior Brown (six boards, five assists) each added nine.

“The fans haven’t gotten their money’s worth yet, so we need to go a couple of overtimes,” Central coach Doc Wheeler said. “(Pelletier) has been our most consistent scorer all year long and I’m just really proud of him. You could see how athletic of a player he is. He was in the middle scoring against their bigs.”

That didn’t seem possible for Central in the second quarter and early in the third. Trinity’s front line of Andrew Lauderdale (6-6), Mabor Gabriel (6-7) and Silvere Aluko (6-10) combined to block seven shots and alter several others. When the trio was on the court in the second quarter, the Little Green struggled mightily against the Pioneers’ zone.

“When we got up, we went into our one-two-two zone and I thought maybe they might clank a few,” Trinity coach Dave Keefe said. “Maybe we’ll get a run and get it up 10 or 12 or 14.”

The Pioneers led 30-21 with 4:05 remaining in the third quarter on a layup by Lauderdale, who finished with 10 points and nine boards, but Central finally got on the board on a layup by Lacount on the other end.

That started the Little Green on a 10-1 run as it tied the game at 31 on a 3 by Pelletier with 1:16 left in the third. Trinity’s Ian Sistare, who also had 10 points, answered right away with a 3 of his own, but the game was tied again early in the fourth on a three-point play by Central’s Isaiah Joseph.

The fourth continued to go back and forth, with Trinity taking a lead and Central coming back to tie it. With the Pioneers up 41-39, Aluko blocked a shot by Lacount and then added a layup at the other end to put Trinity up 43-39 with 3:34 remaining.

But back-to-back baskets by Pelletier tied the game again.

The game was tied six times in the final 12 minutes, including at the end of regulation. With 22 seconds left, Brown hit the first of two free throw attempts to put Central up 46-44, but after a timeout, Lauderdale hit a layup with six seconds left to tie it up.

Lacount had a good look as the buzzer sounded, but his shot was off the mark.

“We had already said in the prior timeout, if they score and tie it and there’s four or five seconds left, we’re running a certain play,” Wheeler said. “I thought we got a great look. I’m one of those guys who believes that calling a timeout allows the defense to organize and we didn’t want that. We practice this play all the time for this situation.”

Pelletier gave Central the lead early in the overtime with a 3, and with 1:35 left, Dawson Dickson hit the second of two free throw attempts to make it a four-point game. Trinity cut it to two moments later, but the Pioneers looked to be in trouble when Central got the ball back with under a minute remaining.

After a timeout, the Little Green brought the ball in near midcourt, but Trinity’s Patrick Keefe forced a turnover and found Sistare for the tying layup.

Central again scored first and led by four, this time with 25 seconds left in the second overtime. But Trinity’s Carmen Giampetruzzi, who had a team-high 15 points, converted a three-point play with seven seconds left to make it a one-point game.

The Pioneers were ready to foul as soon as Central brought the ball in, but Joseph was able to sneak behind the defense and Brown found him alone on the other side of the floor. Joseph took his time going for a layup, putting the Little Green up by three with four seconds left.

“It was exactly the right pass,” Wheeler said of Brown’s baseball heavy. “I was screaming at Isaiah (Joseph) to run away, but I didn’t know how much time (we had). I didn’t want them to hit a 3 at the buzzer.”

Trinity was just looking to commit a foul and try to extend the game before Joseph’s basket.

“We’re just looking to make the foul shot and foul, try to get another second to cling on at the end there,” Keefe said. “I think the difference was that they got to the 50-50 balls. We didn’t protect the ball as well as we should have when we were rebounding. There were times we didn’t go up as strong as we can. We gave up some tough ones.”

Central will face Merrimack at 4 p.m. Saturday at UNH in the championship game.