Exeter boys basketball withstands furious run by Londonderry to reach D1 championship game (video)

DURHAM – The Exeter High School boys basketball team always has something left in the tank.

The top-seeded Blue Hawks built a 15-point lead early in the third and withstood a fierce 26-7 run by fourth-seeded Londonderry during the Division I semifinals at the University of New Hampshire on Wednesday evening, before closing out the game in style with a 19-4 surge during a 62-51 victory.

The Hawks (20-0) will take on second-seeded Salem in the championship game on Saturday, starting at 3 p.m. from UNH’s Lundholm Gymnasium. Salem defeated Portsmouth, 40-26, in Wednesday’s first semifinal-round matchup.

“We knew it was going to be a tight game because Londonderry is a real good team,” Exeter coach Jeff Holmes said. “We had a real close one with them during the regular season, (which was a 60-49 win on Feb. 19). It was a game of runs (Wednesday). We went on a run early, and then they went on one late. We went on another run and had one more than they did. They had a great third quarter and had us on our heels.”

It is hard to believe that Josh Morissette is only a sophomore based on the way he played for Exeter, as he was electrifying off the dribble in the mid-range game and attacking the hoop. The guard/forward poured in a game-high 25 points on 9 of 17 shooting from the floor and a 4-for-9 performance from 3-point range, to go along with six rebounds.

Senior forward Kevin Henry finished with an efficient 19 points in 18 minutes, going 6 for 9 from the floor and 7 of 8 from the line, along with six boards, while junior guard Ryan Grijalva posted 10 points and corralled six rebounds.

Six-foot-five senior center Max DesRosiers left nothing on the court for Londonderry (16-5), as he hit big shot after big shot. He totaled a team-high 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the floor and an outstanding 4-for-5 effort from downtown. Sophomore guard Jackson Cox registered a game-high four steals as a result of his tenacious on-ball defense, and he also recorded 13 points and six boards.

A free throw by Henry 1:29 into the third gave the Hawks a 36-21 lead, which was their largest of the night. Londonderry was not about to fold, as senior forward James Buttafuoco posted a steal and converted a layup with 5:57 left.

Lancers senior guard Ethan May, who struggled with his shot all night, made a big-time play during the third-quarter surge, turning a steal into a behind-the-back pass to a streaking Cox for an easy transition layup. DesRosiers gave Londonderry the lead at 38-37 with 1:03 remaining in the third, scoring a left-wing 3 and a left-elbow jumper on back-to-back possessions.

“We have been doing that all year,” said DesRosiers about coming back from deficits. “Being able to come back like that is not a big surprise to us. We are a strong team and are one of the biggest families for a basketball team.”

Exeter took a 41-38 lead into the fourth, but the pesky Lancers refused to wilt and DesRosiers stepped in confidently to a top-of-the-key trey with 5:39 left, giving Londonderry a 47-43 lead. From that point forward it was all Exeter, as it scored 19 of the final 23 points.

A right-wing 3 by Morissette put the Hawks in front for good at 52-49 with 4:05 on the clock. An old-fashioned three-point play by Henry and a smooth jumper off a pump fake by Morissette kept the Lancers from getting any momentum, and then with 1:13 left, Morissette’s layup put the game away, giving his team a 61-51 cushion.

“I am disappointed because I thought we were going to make it to Saturday,” DesRosiers said. “I thought we were going to come up with a win (Wednesday) and bring another banner to Londonderry, but we fell apart at the end there.”

The Lancers led 12-8 with 1:32 left in the first quarter thanks to DesRosiers’s second 3-pointer of the period, but Exeter ended the frame on a 7-0 spurt and led, 15-12, at the end of one.

Londonderry took a 16-15 lead early in the second on back-to-back layups by DesRosiers, but then came a 13-0 spurt from the Hawks. During the run, Exeter senior guard Cam Clark attacked Cox in transition for an old-fashioned three-point play and the spurt ended with a left-baseline 3 by Morissette, extending the Blue Hawks' lead to 28-16 with 2:21 on the scoreboard. On the final possession of the first half, two Lancers collided with each other on defense, allowing Clark to get wide open for a right-wing 3, sending Exeter into halftime with a 31-21 advantage.

“Josh Morissette came up big (Wednesday),” Holmes said. “He hit a lot of tough shots. Kevin Henry came up big even though he played in foul trouble for a lot of the game. It was a great win for us. We made some plays down the stretch, which you got to do to win a championship.”