Coe-Brown boys basketball overcomes slow start to beat Milford in D2 semis

DURHAM – All the Coe-Brown Northwood Academy boys basketball team needed to do was take one, collective deep breath.

Once the Bears did that, they were in control.

After a slow start, No. 3 Coe-Brown came roaring back to take a 10-point lead at halftime and answered every run No. 2 Milford made in the second half for a 63-52 win over the Spartans in Wednesday’s Division II semifinals at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gym.

The Bears will play for the Division II title Saturday at 12 p.m. against No. 1 Lebanon at UNH, their first championship game appearance since 2003.

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Scott Spenard led the way for Coe-Brown (18-3) with 18 points, 13 of which came in the first half, including nine points during a 16-2 run that helped the Bears take a 32-22 lead into halftime.

“Scott hit a couple of real big shots early that really settled us down,” Coe-Brown Dave Smith said. “He hit a couple of big shots and got us going and it was back and forth.

“It gave us just that little bit of an opening and confidence. It was nice to have a 10-point lead, but they came storming back. They’re a good team.”

Three other players scored in double figures, as Brody Ashley and Shawn Spenard each had 11 points and Samuel Lupinacci chipped in with 10 points. The Bears shot 52.4 percent from the floor and were 11 of 15 from the free throw line in the second half, all of which came in the final 2:39.

Milford (18-2) cut the lead to two points in the third quarter, and four points in the fourth, only to see Coe-Brown go on another run to get the lead back to 10 points each time.

The Spartans got 15 points from Ryan Banuskevich and Weston Pare added 11 points, but Milford struggled to shoot from the perimeter and at the free throw line, going 5 of 24 from 3 for the game and 7 of 15 from the line in the second half.

“We didn’t play with as much poise as we’d played with throughout the year,” Milford coach Dan Murray said. “As bad as we played, it was a four-point game, we just weren’t making free throws. You’re going to miss 3s, but free throws, you’ve got to make those, especially if you’re behind.”

Milford got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 10-4 lead before Smith used a timeout with three minutes left in the first quarter. The Spartans stretched the lead to eight points out of the break, but Scott Spenard got the Bears going with a 7-0 run of his own before the end of the quarter to make it a 12-11 game.

Spenard opened the second with another basket to give Coe-Brown a 13-12 lead, and after a layup by Evan Ryan put Milford back up, the Bears scored seven straight points to go up 20-14 and force the Spartans to take a timeout.

“Defensively, it was like they were blowing by our guards,” Murray said. “We haven’t had anybody do that to us all year. I don’t know if they were quicker or we were slower. We just had a bad night.”

A pair of free throws by Milford’s Jamie Pare cut the Bears’ lead to 24-20 with 3:25 left in the half, but Coe-Brown went into halftime on an 8-2 run.

Spenard scored in the opening seconds of the third quarter to put the Bears up 12, but the Spartans started to come back. Milford went on a 15-5 run, getting six points each from Banuskevich and Weston Pare, to get within two points, 39-37, with 2:28 remaining in the third.

The Spartans had a chance to tie, or take the lead, but couldn’t get a good look and turned the ball over. Coe-Brown took advantage, going on a 9-1 run to end the quarter and go back up by 10 points.

“We just kept battling and the game started to come to us and we started making buckets,” Scott Spenard said. “We told ourselves we had to keep scoring to keep the pressure on them. We played within ourselves, played defense and made free throws.”

Coe-Brown was still up 10, 50-40, with 5:18 to play, when Milford started to chip away again. A 3-pointer by Jamie Pare and three free throws from Shane Winnett cut the lead to four points with 3:53 remaining, but the Bears started to make free throws and went back up by 10 points.

Milford got within six points on a 3 by Banuskevich with 1:04 remaining, but the Spartans wouldn’t score again, and the Bears went 5 of 9 at the line the rest of the way.

“We had to make free throws, and even at the end, we missed a couple,” Smith said. “Shawn (Spenard) hit a couple of critical free throws, after he missed two. He stuck to it and that was great. We could keep more than a two-possession (lead). It puts pressure on the other team.”

Coe-Brown will play Saturday for its first championships since 1997, when it won the Class M title.