When It's All On the Line

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At left, the 1993 Conval boys' team holds its breath as Jaime LeFlem steps to the line to tie the Class I finals at the end of regulation. At right, Madi Hatt of this year's Cougar girls' team concentrates on her free throws.

Everyone likes the thrill of the “three” but hoop history has shown that teams and players who make their free throws in the heat of a close game or playoff atmosphere can make the difference in helping their team either move on or make an earlier than expected exit.

In the earliest days of basketball, foul shots were considered so valuable that a “specialist” was allowed to come off the bench and go to the line. (That’s crazy!) The NHIAA demonstrated its belief in the power of the free throw by holding a state tournament contest from 1949 through 1971. Among the winners was a certain pro baseball prospect from Charlestown High School named Carlton Fisk! 

Making clutch free throws with hundreds and even thousands of fans screaming in your ear has also been part of our Conval hoop heritage.


In 1955, Peterborough High’s Dave Gavitt, who went on to star at Dartmouth and excel as coach at Providence and as a founder of the Big East Conference, won the NHIAA free throw championship. Legend has it Dave would spend hours in the gym working on his free throws. Two years earlier, Robert Brooks of the powerful Hancock High teams of the early1950s was state runner-up! And in 1961, Peter Boudreau of Peterborough High proved to be most skillful of all competitors from around the state.


In modern times, the 1986 Conval boys’ basketball state champs, as well as the 1994 boys’ and girls’ hoop champs, were all known for their free throw shooting skill under pressure. A year earlier, in 1993, who can forget how Jaime LeFlem calmly sank two free throws at the end of regulation in the finals against Merrimack Valley to send the game into overtime?


A legendary voice from hoop history gives the key to success for past, present and future free throw shooters:


“If I had stood at the free-throw line and thought about 10 million people watching me on the other side of the camera lens, I couldn't have made anything. So I mentally tried to put myself in a familiar place. I thought about all those times I shot free throws in practice and went through the same motion, the same technique that I had used thousands of times. You forget about the outcome. You know you are doing the right things. So you relax and perform.”—Michael Jordan


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