35th Anniversary: A Team 'On Fire'
A college basketball commentator said recently that the most dangerous team come tournament time is not the one with the best record but the one that is on fire. The 35th anniversary of the Conval Cougars basketball team and their unlikely pursuit of the Class I (D2) championship fit that description… and was the stuff of which makes basketball fans’ blood boil with excitement and wonder.
Coach Frank Davidson’s Cougars began the 1988-’89 season in relative obscurity, playing close to .500 ball in a gym that was half closed. Unbeaten Merrimack Valley with eventual New Hampshire basketball standout Scott Drapeau, and highly-ranked Pembroke with shooting sensation Matt Alosa, had captured everyone’s attention and were early season favorites to meet for the Class I title in three months.
But a Christmas tournament at Bishop Guertin High in Nashua suddenly changed that focus. “Who is this team from Conval?” One of only two schools its size invited to the Class L (D1) holiday tournament, Conval surprised the host Cardinals and Class L Merrimack in the first two rounds before bowing to powerful Jeremiah Burke of Boston in the finals, 61-56.
And they did it shorthanded. Only seven players were available the first night, and only eight the second. It was the work of up-and-coming sophomores like Adam Adkins and Brian Roucoulet who played significant roles in helping the Cougars play giant killers. And with leading scorers Jon Horne and Jon Tirone with four fouls in the third period against Merrimack, Dave Plourde and CJ Sullivan came off the bench to stem the tide.
Brian Roucoulet drives against Fall Mountain big man Eric Hunter.
“It was a great effort,” Davidson said. “We basically went there with seven the first night, eight the second, and then decided that we should stick with who had played all week. It was a real gutsy performance.”
A performance that opened eyes of the rest of Class I. With the backcourt duo of two 1,000 point scorers—Hunter Burgess and Moultonborough Academy transfer Tirone—plus the strong front court game of Chad Goolbis and Jon Horne, the Cougars quietly won all but two of their remaining regular season games to finish at 13-5.
In the regular season finale against Laconia, Tirone became the school’s 11th thousand point scorer, hitting both ends of a one-and-one. He and Burgess combined to make one of Conval’s greatest backcourt combos ever.
“They’re both very unselfish,” said Davidson. “They look for each other, they complement each other really well, and they just fit together real well.” (Of note, Horne scored his thousandth career point, too, in 1991.)
In its first 19 years, the Cougars had been “a basketball school,” in contention for or qualifying for the state tournament each season. The 1988-’89 season had been just like that college basketball commentator had said, and though top-ranked Merrimack Valley and second-ranked Pembroke were clear favorites throughout the season, it was Conval that shook up the state—and almost shook it up completely in the state finals.
After disposing of rival Fall Mountain in the preliminary round of the Class I tournament, the Cougars met up with powerful Pembroke at UNH in the quarter-finals. A shocking 20-8 advantage after one period set the tone for the rest of the game. Despite Matt Alosa ripping the twine for 39 points, Conval used well-balanced scoring and last-second free throws by Horne to bring home a 67-62 victory.
But Alosa nearly brought Pembroke all the way back. Trailing by just three with seconds remaining, the Pembroke and eventual New Hampshire superstar raced down the court and fired a desperation three-pointer that looked good but fell short. Alosa grabbed the rebound and fired again, but his miss was hauled in by Horne who sank both ends of a one-and-one to secure the win.
“We did everything correctly in the fourth except put the ball in the hole,” said Pembroke coach Ed Cloe afterwards. “They’re a very good ball club. They took is out of our offense and didn’t let us set up half court.”
The seventh-ranked Cougars, backed by a legion of boisterous fans, went on to down Lebanon in the semis, which had upset Kennett in the quarter-finals. Another surprising win had set up a Class I finals showdown with once-beaten and top-ranked Merrimack Valley. Though few gave Conval much of a chance against the Class I leaders, the Cougars hopes brightened somewhat when it was learned that MV standout guard Dave Huckins was ruled out due to an injury.
In a raucous Lundholm Gym at UNH, the highly-favored Merrimack Valley crew jumped out of the gate true to form, leading 5-2. But as they did against Pembroke, the Cougars used balanced scoring to rally to a stunning 34-22 halftime lead.
Adam Adkins (23) and Chad Goolbis (32) work against Merrimack Valley standout center Scott Drapeau.
The lead grew to an unbelievable 18 points mid-way through the third period, when suddenly, foul trouble began to mount for Conval. Goolbis was whistled for his third and fourth within a matter of seconds. Goolbis and Horn had been a tremendous duo in collapsing on center scoring machine Drapeau, but when Horne fouled out with four minutes to go in the game, the momentum suddenly shifted. The tall and talented Drapeau had free access to the hoop, and Merrimack Valley rallied in the final moments for a pulsating 57-54 win.
“We really couldn’t front him [Drapeau] as aggressively as we had, and he just got a free lease to work under there,” said Tirone afterwards. “But after we got that 18 point lead, we started to be tentative in our offense,” Tirone lamented. “Merrimack Valley just put on a great surge and caught us a little off guard.”
“Conval’s season of surprises ends sadly,” read the headline in that week’s Peterborough Transcript. But Davidson—who, not surprisingly, won the Class I Coach of the Year award by the NH Basketball Association—had nothing but pride in his team, especially after the loss when the boys accepted the runner-up trophy with class. “I’d just like it mentioned how hard the kids worked and how they matured over the season.”
It’s what can happen when you’re “on fire.”
(Special thanks to Pat Ferrier and Tom Auclair, The Peterborough Transcript)
