MANCHESTER, NH – The result wasn’t determined until the final seconds of the game, and similar to past meetings between Holy Family Academy and the Derryfield School boys basketball game, there was plenty of quality basketball played from start to finish.
Unlike most of the past meetings between the city rivals, however, it was Derryfield coming out on top this time, earning a gritty 49-47 home victory Tuesday night.
That, after falling behind early and trailing 14-9 after the first quarter.
“It was a great come-from-behind victory,” said Derryfield head coach Ed Meade. “I had my doubts there in the first quarter, but we stepped it up and started attacking them instead of letting them attack us, and we started bringing the ball to the hoop and playing more aggressive and that kind of turned the tables in our favor.”
“It was a great game. Derryfield earned it,” said Holy Family’s head coach Keith Lacasse. “They were clutch when they needed to be and they killed us on the rebounding game. You rule the boards and the results speak for themselves.”
Indeed, Holy Family won the rebounding battle in the first half and took a 28-24 advantage into halftime, but the Griffins were out-rebounded 18-5 in the second half.
And the Cougars were able to do so without senior captain Zach Martin, one of the team’s most consistent players on the boards.
“He’s really come along for us,” said Meade. “He’s a good passer, good rebounder, and sometimes that shows a little bit in our play. But everyone else really stepped up tonight. Jack (Krasnof) kind of took over there late and really did a good job, so I’ve got a lot of praise for them in pulling that out tonight.”
Krasnof led the Cougars in scoring with 17 points, while teammate Alex Comire added 15 markers, none more important than the two free throws that broke a 47-47 tie with three seconds remaining in the contest to ice the game for Derryfield.
On the Holy Family side, standout senior Gabe Lacasse kept his team close with a game-high 19 points while teammates Enzo Yonkeu, Jeremiah Guerrero, and Patrick Gillis chipped in 8, 7 and 6 pointes, respectively.
The loss dropped Holy Family to 1-2 while Derryfield improved to 4-0 on the young season.
“In the five years I’ve been here, we haven’t gotten to the first of the year without a loss,” said Meade. “We’ve got Mascenic next (6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19 on the road) and then Epping (6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 22 at home) so it’s looking like we might be able to do that. I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch, but that would be the first time we’ve done that, so I’m really happy with the position we’re in right now.”
While acknowledging the pleasant realities of his team’s record, as well as the added bonus of defeating a cross-city rival in the process, Meade said he’s not concerned about his players getting too high, too low or losing focus or motivation.
“They’ve been together for so long. Even when they were freshmen and sophomores, they always had the same kind of work ethic and mentality,” said Meade. “They just want to have fun. You know, practices are a lot of fun. Games are a lot of fun … so I’m not worried about the motivation factor. They’re not the type of team to go out and think, ‘we’re going to bulldoze this team by 40,’ that’s not the way they look at it. They look at it like, ‘we’re going to go out there and play some basketball, have fun and play as a team,’ and that’s what I like so much about this group.”
As Derryfield looks to maintain its hot start, Holy Family will try to get back on track when it visits Mascenic Thursday for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff.
“I know Derryfield is a strong team this year. They really are, I think, the team to watch in the (Division IV) south,” said Lacasse. “They’ve beaten everyone they’ve played, so this was a good test tonight, and the fact we hung with them for four quarters and it ended that close, I think speaks well for our season, and we’ve improved a lot even just in the last couple of weeks by a lot, so I have high hopes.”
