Exeter boys basketball passes early-season test against Portmouth

EXETER - With nine players gone off last year’s undefeated Division I championship team, it was logical to question if the Exeter High School boys basketball team still had the pieces to put forward a strong title defense.

Three games into the new season, the Blue Hawks have appeared to replenish just fine.

In a battle of teams who have combined to win the past three Division I championships, Exeter broke an early tie with a 10-0 run to end the first quarter and held Portsmouth to one bucket for a near eight-minute stretch to build 24-12 lead. Exeter maintained its cushion on its way to a 24th straight Division I victory, 56-46.

“It was a good early season test. They’re a good team and they’re going to be right there at the end,” Exeter coach Jeff Holmes said. “I was pleased with our performance. We got off to a good little lead, they hit a couple of 3s at the end of the second quarter, but we came out in the third and we didn’t fall apart.”

Senior Ryan Grivalva has inherited the go-to role for Exeter this year, but he has received plenty of help. Grijalva led Exeter with 15 points, while Mike Leonard and Jett Healy each added 10. 

Exeter (3-0) opened the season with wins of 77-29 over Pinkerton Academy and 64-37 over Manchester Memorial, to go along with a 3-0 sweep in a second straight Queen City Invitational championship over the holidays.

“(Portsmouth) had a lot of energy coming in here, so I give them a lot of credit,” Grijalva said. “But I thought we handled the situation very well with all the people well, how loud it was and with all the cameras. I’m really proud with how the guys played (Tuesday)."

Portsmouth (2-1) opened the season with wins over Winnacunnet (67-45) and Pinkerton (61-43). The Clippers were coming off a 15-6 season that ended with a semifinal loss to Salem, after winning back-to-back Division I championships in 2017 and 2018.

Junior Coleman Brewster scored seven of his game-high 20 points in the opening 3:51 of the game to keep Portsmouth tied at 9-9, but a 3-pointer by Leonard sparked a 10-0 run that was capped off by a Grijalva drive and 3-point play to give Exeter a 19-9 lead heading into the second quarter.

Kevin Cummings (nine points) broke a 5:55 scoring drought with a 3-pointer in the second, but Exeter took a 24-12 lead with 3:09 left on buckets from Healy and Grijalva. The Clippers managed to make only 8 of 25 shots (32 percent) from the field in the first half.

“We couldn’t get anything to fall, really, from the start,” Portsmouth coach John Mulvey said. “They came out and played really hard defense and we missed a lot of shots.”

Portsmouth finished out the first half with some encouragement after 3-pointers from Tommy Degnan and Brewster closed the gap to 26-20 at halftime, and the Clippers continued to stay within striking distance in trailing 37-31 entering the fourth.

After Matt McConnell found a slicing Grijalva for a layup early in the fourth, Tristan Comeau drained a 3-pointer to give Exeter a 43-32 lead with 5:23 left in regulation.

“Tristan is a shooter off the bench and he hit some big shots,” Holmes said. “That 3-pointer was huge for us. He’s coming along strong for us.”

Grijalva’s biggest accomplishment of the night was the way he guarded his friend - and one of Portsmouth’s top options - Cal Hewett. Even though Hewett grabbed 11 rebounds, his only points came via a pair of free throws late in the fourth.

“He’s one of my good buddies, I took the challenge and I was kind of excited for it,” Grijalva said. “I’m glad I had the opportunity to guard him the whole game. I guess I have a little bit of bragging rights.”

“Grijalva did a really good job guarding Hewett; he’s a really good player,” Holmes said. “I was just really pleased defensively. It’s not easy to guard a team that shoots that well and passes that well.”

Mulvey was happy that his team never got too far behind and believes it’ll continue to progress. 

“The good is that we had the lead to six a couple of times but we just couldn’t get closer than that. We attacked the basket better than we had all season, but we just didn’t finish,” Mulvey said. “They’re deeper than us right now and we’re hopeful we can get that depth. I definitely think we can compete with them down the road.”