Exeter boys basketball outlasts Merrimack to move on in D1 postseason

EXETER – After making a run towards last year’s Division III semifinals with St. Thomas Aquinas, Exeter High School senior guard Brady Rogers immediately noticed the difference in the competition and intensity of the Division I boys basketball tournament when his Blue Hawks took on Merrimack in Wednesday night’s opening-round game.

The 13th-seeded Tomahawks were a pesty underdog against No. 4 Exeter, but Rogers and his teammates will have at least one more postseason game.

Merrimack used a 9-2 run to begin the third quarter to close to within five points and stuck within striking distance until Exeter pulled away late for a 62-53 victory. Rogers finished with 15 points, while junior forward Nik Greco scored a game-high 16 points for Exeter.

“D1 is a lot different from D3, any team in the league can win a game on any given night,” Rogers said. “We knew that was coming. They put up a fight, it was a defensive battle and we came out on top.”

Exeter (14-5) now hosts No. 5 Trinity (14-5) in Saturday’s quarterfinals, after the Pioneers advanced with a 74-54 win over No. 12 Dover (9-10). The winner plays either No. 8 Nashua South (12-7) or top-seeded Pinkerton Academy (17-1) in next Wednesday’s semifinals.

“I knew it would be a really tough matchup for us, they play really good man-to-man defense, they’re athletic and tough, so we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy one for us,” Exeter coach Jeff Holmes said. “Having that (12-point) lead at halftime turned out to be big. That little spurt we had at the end of the second quarter was big.”

Exeter led 12-10 after the first quarter before it outscored Merrimack 19-9 in the second to build a 31-19 halftime cushion. The Blue Hawks closed out the quarter on a bucket by Greco and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Jack Cartwright.

Merrimack (8-11) erupted out of the locker room by pressing and capitalized on a few turnovers in the process. David Roy began the quarter with a hoop and a 3-pointer, while Michael Flerra found Jenson Monroe (14 points) in transition to close the deficit to 33-28.

“I told them the first five minutes of the third quarter is going to dictate where the game is going to go,” Merrimack coach Austin Denton said. “They fought back, we had opportunities that were there. We just couldn’t get the ball to fall enough.”

Exeter responded and closed the quarter with a 7-2 run to take a 46-36 lead into the fourth, but Flerra hit a pair of 3-pointers sandwiched around a Roy hoop to close to within 48-44 with five minutes remaining.

The Blue Hawks once again countered and extended their lead to 55-47 following a feed from Rogers to Greco, but a 3-point play by Flerra closed the deficit to 55-50 with 2:40.

Shortly after, Rogers provided the dagger with a 3-pointer to give Exeter a 59-50 lead with 1:30 remaining.

“When you play physical teams it’s always a battle,” Greco said. “Merrimack is a super physical team and they play great defense, so we knew we had to match them on defense. It was a tough game.”

Now the Blue Hawks take on a Trinity team whom they beat in the regular season, 75-72, when Cartwright delivered a key 3-pointer in overtime.

“We know they’ve got a really good team, they’ve got (DeVohn Ellis) and he’s a hell of a player,” Rogers said. “We know that they’re going to give us their best, and we’re going to give them our best.”