Defense leads Conant boys basketball to win over Campbell in D3 title game

MANCHESTER – Eric Saucier preached defense to the Conant High School boys basketball team throughout the regular season.

While the Orioles may not have always achieved Saucier’s goal of 40 points or less in every game, they did when it mattered most, holding all four of their postseason opponents below that mark.

That included Sunday’s Division III championship game, which No. 2 Conant won, 40-36, over No. 5 Campbell at Southern New Hampshire University. It’s the second year in a row the Orioles beat the Cougars to win the title.

“It was all defense, like our coach was preaching all season,” Conant senior Eli Hodgson said. “He finally got us to play the defense he wanted all season in the playoffs. We held every single team in the playoffs under 40 points, and if you do that, you can win the basketball game.”

Hodgson was a big part of that Sunday. Fellow senior Kyle Carland drew the assignment of guarding Campbell’s Zach Bergeon, who had caused problems for the Orioles (20-2) when the teams played twice in the regular season. But at halftime, Carland had three fouls and Bergon had 10 of Campbell’s 19 points.

At the request of his player, Saucier switched Hodgson to guard Bergeon to start the third quarter. The Cougars (18-4) scored just two points in the frame, and Hodgson shut Bergeon out.

“We wanted to concentrate on Zach because he hurt us,” Saucier said. “The last (two) games, he had half their points. At halftime, he had half their points. We got in foul trouble so we made a couple of changes and I thought Eli in the third quarter played great defense against him. We switched Eli on him and everyone else had to help and we wanted to make everyone else beat us.”

Bergeon still finished with 18 points – half of the Cougars’ final total – but was just 2 of 12 from the field while shooting 13 of 14 from the free throw line. Campbell also got eight points and 12 rebounds from Harrison Vedrani.

“They tried to stop him obviously,” Campbell coach John Langlois said. “Zach is a great basketball player and they got him a little frustrated early, but I thought he came back and overcame that and gave it everything he had. They were blanketing him.”

Robert O’Brien had 14 points to lead Conant, and with Campbell holding Carland and Hodgson to six points each, Nick Panagiotes stepped up with 13 points, including 4 of 5 from behind the 3-point line.

“We knew they were going to concentrate on a couple of guys and they were leaving Nick and Josh (Degrenier) open,” Saucier said. “I told those guys they were going to have to make shots.”

The Orioles made half their shots in the first half, going into the locker room with a 23-19 lead after shooting 9 of 18 from the field. It could have been worse for Campbell, as it scored just two points in the first quarter, but the Cougars made all eight of their free throws in the first half.

Conant held Campbell to just two points again in the third, with those coming on a putback by Vedrani with 3:19 left in the frame. But the Orioles only had seven points at the other end, making it a 30-21 lead for Conant going into the fourth.

Every time it seemed the Cougars were going to close the gap, Conant would get a basket to keep the lead between six and eight points. Bergeon hit a 3 with 56.8 seconds left to make it a five-point game, 38-33, and the teams traded a free throw to keep the lead at five.

After a Campbell foul with 32.7 seconds to go, Conant’s Nathan Wheeler had a chance to make it a three-possession game, but missed both free throws. Conant grabbed the rebound, but Vedrani ripped it away and the Cougars hurried the other way.

The Cougars remarkably had four chances at a 3 that would cut the deficit to two, grabbing the offensive rebound after every miss. After the last one, Vedrani was fouled on the rebound and made both free throws to make it 39-36 with 4.8 seconds left.

As the ball was brought in, Vedrani fouled Conant’s C.J. Bilodeau, and the sophomore made the first of two free throws with 1.7 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

“It’s all because of the defensive end,” Saucier said. “No team got to 40. We stuck with the game plan and we did what we had to do. Defense has been our forte, that’s what I believe in and it’s been proven.”