Hollis Brookline boys basketball hands Lebanon first loss

HOLLIS – The Hollis Brookline High School boys basketball team needed to get back to what it did best.

For most of the first quarter Friday against Lebanon, the Cavaliers were settling for contested outside shots, and struggled to make them.

As the Raiders threatened to pull away late in the quarter, HB finally got the ball where it needed to: in the paint.

The Cavs started to find success inside, outscoring Lebanon 22-8 over the final eight-plus minutes of the first half, and HB held off a late run by the Raiders to win 61-51 in Division II action. It was the first regular-season loss for Lebanon in 24 games, going back to 2015.

“We made a more concerted effort to get it inside,” HB coach Mike Soucy said. “Even when we were missing in the second quarter, we were getting every offensive rebound and score there. What ended up happening was everything collapsed and that opened our shooters a little more. It was just focus on playing inside-out.”

Those inside baskets in the first half led to open looks in the third quarter, as Nick Fothergill scored nine of his game-high 18 points on three 3-pointers in the frame. Stephen Giaconia added 16 points, including two 3s, while Matt Simco (11 points) and Matthew Dowling (1o points) were also in double figures for the Cavs (5-1).

“Fothergill is a good player and we didn’t do a good job on him,” Lebanon coach Kieth Matte said. “They pose unique problems for us where they have two good big kids. Even Giaconia is a big, strong kid. They pose problems for us that we’ve got to work on and fix.”

Ryan Milliken led the Raiders (5-1) with 18 points while Hunter Bienvenu had four 3-pointers and 14 points, and Graham Chickering added 10. Lebanon was again without KJ Matte, last year’s Division II Player of the Year, who has been out with an injury.

Neither team came out shooting well at the start, as Lebanon missed its first three field goals and HB started 1 for 8 from the floor and was 7 of 14 from the line in the first half. Back-to-back 3s by Chickering and Bienvenu got the Raiders rolling, and a layup by Milliken gave them a 13-5 lead in the final minute of the first quarter.

But HB was able to answer at the other end with a basket inside by Dowling, and the Cavs scored the first five points of the second to cut the Lebanon lead to one. Two free throws from Patrick Close and a jumper by Giaconia gave HB a 20-17 lead with 3:29 left in the half.

A pair of baskets by Milliken made it a one-point game, 22-21, but a putback by Simco put the Cavs up three with under 40 seconds left in the half. Lebanon missed a pair of shots that would have kept it a one-possession game, but Giaconia hit a 3 with 5.1 seconds to go in the half to put HB up 27-21 at the break.

The Cavs opened the third quarter with a 16-10 run, which included three 3s by Fothergill and another by Giaconia, to take a 43-31 lead with 2:58 left in the frame.

But the Raiders weren’t going away, as they closed the quarter on an 11-0 run to cut the lead to one point going into the fourth. Lebanon had an opportunity to retake the lead, but missed a shot and baskets by Simco and Giaconia seemed to give HB some breathing room.

“We cut it to one and we had a wide-open five-footer and we didn’t knock it down,” Matte said. “That was a huge swing. We had multiple opportunities down one, with the ball, and never could seem to get over the hump. It was frustrating.”

A 3-pointer by Bienvenu got Lebanon within four, 55-51, with 1:23 remaining, but when the Raiders tried to foul, HB was able to get the ball to Fothergill. The senior went 6 for 6 from the line in the final 72 seconds to wrapup the win.

“In a close game down the stretch, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure the ball is in (Fothergill’s) hands so if they have to foul, we’re getting the ball to our best free throw shooter,” Soucy said. “I learned that we’re tougher than I thought we were.

“We can take a punch and come right back. That (type of run) can change the momentum of the game and we’ve lost those types of games before, where we’ve made bad choices down the stretch. They corrected it and they finished the game the right way.”