Hollis Brookline boys basketball makes plays late to beat Hanover

HOLLIS – Three free throws played a big part of Thursday night’s high school boys basketball game between Hanover and Hollis Brookline.

Hanover missed just four foul shots all night, but one of those misses came with 1:01 to play and kept it just a two-point lead for the Marauders.

HB made just eight free throws, but one completed a three-point play that gave the Cavaliers a one-point lead with 48 seconds left, and another one made it a two-point with 10 seconds left.

A last-second 3-point attempt by Hanover was off the mark and HB walked away with a 52-50 win in the Division II regular-season finale for both teams. The Cavs finish the year at 14-4, and depending on tiebreakers, will be either the third or fourth seed. Hanover ends up at 9-9.

“I told them it would come down to a one-possession game in the last minute and it’s going to depend on who makes the play,” HB coach Mike Soucy said. “We went back and forth in that last minute, and we were just fortunate to make one more play.”

The Cavs got three big plays in the final minute from Shea Whalen, PJ Flaum and Ryan Papineau.

With Hanover up by one, Liam Gantrish went to the free throw line, but made just one of two. HB got the rebound, and Whalen was fouled at the other end as he made a layup. The junior hit the free throw to give the Cavs a 49-48 lead.

“Their big guy (Whalen) made a big play to put them ahead,” Hanover coach Tim Winslow said. “We were on the line with a two-point lead. If we make it three, that’s a big play and puts them in a tough situation. We can let them score a two because we’d still have a lead.”

The Marauders stormed right back, retaking the lead, 50-49, on a layup by John Flory. But HB answered, as Flaum drove the lane and pulled up for a floater that gave the Cavs a 51-50 lead with 22 seconds to go.

Hanover looked to strike quick, but Rocco Linehan’s shot rolled in and out of the cylinder and Papineau grabbed the rebound. Linehan was called for a foul and Papineau made one of two free throws to make it a two-point game with 10 seconds left.

Flory attempted an off-balance 3 with a few seconds to go, but the shot was off and the rebound bounced away as the buzzer sounded, giving the Cavs the win.

“You’ve got to make plays at the end,” Soucy said. “We were fortunate enough to make a couple of free throws. We didn’t make many, but we made a couple that we needed to.”

HB was just 8 of 20 from the free throw line. Flaum had 15 points and Whalen added eight as nine different Cavs scored points.

Flory had 17 points and Gantrish had 15 for Hanover, which shot 20 of 24 at the line.

The Marauder led by as many as six points throughout the second half, including 44-38 with 5:26 to play, but they couldn’t extend it any further.

“We had a couple of opportunities to put some distance between us,” Winslow said. “We made some not-great-decisions. We worked hard, we just couldn’t make a couple of plays down the stretch.”