Goffstown boys basketball pulls away in fourth quarter to beat Winnacunnet (video)

GOFFSTOWN - Ryan Cowette could see that his Goffstown High School boys basketball team needed to do something to create some separation from Winnacunnet.

Despite not having practiced much full-court pressure this year, the Grizzlies coach put on one coming out of a timeout late in the third quarter, and it finally did the trick.

Up four going into the fourth quarter, Goffstown went on a 19-2 run to take control of the game and cruised to a 78-58 win over Winnacunnet in a Division I game on Wednesday.

Rob Baguidy scored 24 of his game-high 29 points in the second half while Aiden O'Connell added 18 points and Mason Blondeau had 17 markers before fouling out late, as the Grizzlies (2-0) outscored the Warriors (1-1) 31-15 in the fourth quarter.

And after watching Winnacunnet hit seven 3-pointers in the first half, Goffstown allowed just one in the third quarter and kept the Warriors without an attempt in the final frame.

"It was big," Baguidy said of the defensive effort in the second half. "They were calling it close and in the first half, we were lazy on the closeouts. When we started pressuring, they had trouble dribbling and couldn’t handle the pressure. We knew their big guy, Joe Allen, is their core and they wanted to get it to him. But if they can’t get it over halfcourt, that stops their whole offense. If we play defense, we’re going to win."

Josh Schaake led the Warriors with 16 points, 14 of which came in the first half behind four 3s, but no one else was in double figures. Joseph Teixeira came off the bench to score eight while Allen finished with seven.

"I thought we really battled for three quarters," Winnacunnet coach Jay McKenna said. "We were up at half and it was four points going into the fourth. I was encouraged. This is really inexperienced team. We have two guys who got significant minutes last year, so to come over here and play with that team with that talent, to do what we did, we’re taking a lot of positives from this."

After a back-and-forth first quarter, Goffstown went on a 10-2 run to go up by seven points, and after a basket by Baguidy made it 26-16 with 3:10 to play in the half, McKenna took a timeout. The Warriors responded with a barrage of 3s and ended the half on a 17-4 run to take a 33-30 lead into halftime.

Goffstown got the lead back midway through the third on a basket by Blondeau, and after Baguidy scored to give the Grizzlies a 41-38 lead, Cowette used a timeout with 2:36 to play in the quarter. The Grizzlies came out of the timeout in a full-court press.

"We wanted to try to have their guards make decisions," Cowette said. "It isn’t something that we’ve worked on a whole lot, just trying to generate some chaos. I think it sparked the last 10 minutes or so and gave some guys confidence."

The switch to the press may have also taken some confidence away from Winnacunnet.

"It took us out of rhythm," McKenna said. "We’ve had the injury bug and we haven’t had 10 guys at practice to even work against a full press. These are the things we learn during the course of the season with a young team.

"The momentum had swung at that point and that’s what happens with a young team. I said to them, if they start making shots, it has no impact on us making shots. We started to get tight. We’ll learn from experience. We just lost some confidence in the fourth quarter, so maybe those shots that looked open in the first half, maybe we were second guessing ourselves."

With Goffstown up 47-43 going into the fourth, Baguidy scored the first five points to extend the lead to nine. After a basket by Teixeira, it was O'Connell's turn, as he scored seven straight points, including a 3 that came after an offensive rebound by Blondeau, giving the Grizzlies a 59-45 lead with 5:09 to play.

"When we have all the pieces, it keeps defensive on their heels," Baguidy said. "I can drive and shoot, Aiden can drive and shoot, Mason can drive and shoot, so they can’t game plan for us easily. If you’re playing close up, we can blow by, and if they pack the paint, we’re going to hit our shots if we’re all working together."