Hollis Brookline boys basketball picks up second win over Souhegan

HOLLIS - It was a historical night at Hollis Brookline High School on Tuesday in more ways than one.

Souhegan's Brandon Len scored his 1,000th career point, but it was the Cavaliers boys basketball team that walked away with a 61-56 victory.

That's good news for HB. It's the Cavs' second win over the Sabers this season, the first time that's happened since the 2008-09 season, which is also the last time HB finished the year with a winning record.

While there's still a lot of basketball to be played, HB is sitting at 8-3 in Division II.

"We talked about playing with poise and intelligence and we really did," HB coach Mike Soucy said. "It seems like the only two times we put 32 minutes together this year, both times were against Souhegan. Maybe we should grab Souhegan jerseys and put them on our opponents because it seems to really focus us. It was a solid team effort. We had contributions from everybody and it was awesome."

PJ Flaum scored 13 points for the Cavs, Connor Walsh added 10 and Tim Rencken and Logan Blake each had nine. HB got a balanced attack from its roster and controlled the boards against the Sabers.

But the key was the Cavs defense. In two games, HB has held Souhegan, a team that averaged 73 points in its six wins this season, to just 49.5.

"We're definitely defensive-first," Soucy said. We're trying to hold teams to under 50 points and that's a tall task. To hold this team to 56 points is a tremendous effort."

The one player the Cavs couldn't slow down was Len, who had 24 points, including two free throws with 15 seconds left to get him to 1,000 points for his career. But the milestone was bittersweet.

"I told the kids it was a hundred percent my fault," Souhegan coach Mike Heaney said. "I didn't have them prepared for the physicality. I didn't have them prepared for all of it.

"They just outworked us on the glass, they were tougher defensively. Too many turnovers early and that's a toughness issue. We were not being tough with the basketball and playing a little scared against a very good defensive team. We’re third in Division II in scoring and we can put up points, but there’s something about this matchup. The guards are very good defensively, but what makes Hollis good is their bigs just do their job."

HB trailed just once in the game, when a layup by Len gave the Sabers an 11-10 lead with 4:02 remaining in the first quarter. But the Cavs responded right away, going back on top on a layup by Tim Rencken on their next possession.

A jumper by Len made it a 16-15 Cavs’ lead with 1:41 left in the quarter, but the Sabers turned the ball over three times in the rest of the frame and HB went on a 5-0 run to take a six-point lead.

It was still a six-point game at the half, but after Souhegan scored the first points of the third, the Cavs put together a 7-1 run to take their largest lead of the game, 40-30. Every time the Sabers tried to make a run of their own, the Cavs had an answer.

Souhegan got within four points early in the fourth quarter, but HB turned it back into an eight-point advantage. With 1:19 to play, the Sabers were down just five, but the Cavs made 4 of 6 free throws down the stretch to keep control of the game.

"Basketball is a game of runs," Soucy said. "You can sustain a 4-0 run, a 6-0 run, but you want to avoid are those 8-0, 10-0, 12-0 runs, which I think we did a good job of that (Tuesday)."