CONVAL HOOP HERITAGE

The game after the first loss of the season, Jaime LeFlem scored 24 points as the Cougars rallied past Pembroke, February 1994. C an you imagine? S o many fans in Lebanon wanted to see the late season 1993-94 game between once-beaten Lebanon and unbeaten Conval that 300 fans were turned away! Down nine in the first quarter of a pulsating, tournament-like game, Conval rallied to lead 41-38 heading into the final frame. However, foul trouble combined with foul shot accuracy—Lebanon tallied 25 points from the charity stripe!—drove the host Raiders to a 75-66 win. But it was the next game that was the stuff of which winners are made. Conval fought off highly-regarded Pembroke and legendary coach Ed Close’s valiant attempt to put them to sleep and make them think about their only loss. Pembroke worked a successful slow-down, with CV up only 20-18 at the half. What eventually did in the Spartans’ strategy, though, were two familiar weapons: the continual wave of quality Cougar players insert...

Coach Chick Hamel maps out the strategy in a 1969 game against unbeaten Hollis that helped lead to an ending few in Antrim would ever forget. I n the 1960s, Antrim High was a perennial force to be reckoned with in Class S. The Warriors were regular participants in the state tournament   from 1962 to 1970, missing out on only the ’64 and ’65 event. Many memorable games were played in the old town gym over those years, and one of the biggest and most exciting of them all took place in late January 1969. Powerful Hollis High (long before the days of becoming Hollis-Brookline) rode into town with a 33-game winning streak. Earlier in the season, the Cavaliers had eked out a slim victory over Antrim on their home court, and many expected another down-to-the-wire finish.   They were not disappointed. After delighting the home crowd with a surprising 11-point halftime lead, Antrim suddenly went cold in the third period. Hollis reeled off the first eight points of the second half, and...

M onday fun-day … Our CV hoop heritage has shown that this @farside.comics cartoon is spot on! In the 1994 state finals, for example, the Cougar girls used a high-pressure defense against Souhegan that sparked their offense and helped avenge their only loss of the season—and produced the school’s only girls’ hoop title thus far. The same year, it was Jaime LeFlem ’s defensive steal of a last-second inbounds pass by Lebanon that led to championship-sealing free throws for the boys’ team. In 1986, a stifling defense that forced high-scoring Fall Mountain out of its comfort zone for much of the game helped propel the Cougar boys to the school’s first hoop title. And it was said of the undefeated state champion Peterborough High team of 1936 that “the local defense was impregnable.” On a smaller scale, while there were critical 3-pointers, layups and foul shots in the final minutes of Friday night’s game, it was that same hand-in-your-face “D” by POG Jake Daniels (pictured) and his Cougar...