> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Hollis Brookline boys basketball survives uptempo game to beat St. Thomas - URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/hollis-brookline-boys-basketball-survives-uptempo-game-to-beat-st-thomas/ - Published: 2015-01-04T12:00:46.000Z - Updated: 2015-01-04T12:00:46.000Z - Description: HOLLIS - The Hollis Brookline High School boys basketball team spent Saturday afternoon running up and down the court with St. Thomas. - Author: Joe Marchilena - Tags: Winter Sports, boys basketball, Brookline, Division II, Hollis, St. Thomas, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44 ![Hollis Brookline's Will Petersen takes a shot during Saturday's game against St. Thomas.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/jmstahbbball010315-h25-1.jpg) Hollis Brookline's Will Petersen takes a shot during Saturday's game against St. Thomas. HOLLIS - The Hollis Brookline High School boys basketball team spent Saturday afternoon running up and down the court with St. Thomas. Unable to play at their pace, the Cavaliers played at the Saints', and despite that, HB was able to pick up a 66-60 win, its first in Division II this season. ![St. Thomas' Sean Kelly tries to get a hand on a shot by Hollis Brookline's Trevor Bowler.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/jmstahbbball010315-s15h33-1.jpg) St. Thomas' Sean Kelly tries to get a hand on a shot by Hollis Brookline's Trevor Bowler. Matt Fothergill led HB with 15 points, including three 3-pointers, the last of which came with 3:07 left in the game and gave the Cavs a nine-point lead. Trevor Bowler and Will Petersen added 13 points each, as HB (1-1) led from start to finish. "We never gave ourselves an opportunity to slow things down and run some offense to see what we could do against (St. Thomas)," HB coach Mike Soucy said. "They play with a tremendous amount of intensity and play really hard and fast. They're accustomed to that system and we’re not." St. Thomas got 17 points from Matt Baker while Tim Bouchard added 13 points, as the Saints (0-3) got scoring from all 11 players who stepped on the floor. "We've been undermanned for two games and we've responded," Dave Sokolnicki said. "We showed a lot of character. We got beat pretty bad at Windham (last time out) and we came here and played hard and played the way we wanted to play. I was pretty pumped up about that." The teams opened the game scoring at a furious pace, as they combined for 20 points, and four 3-pointers, in the first 2:18 of the game. Fothergill had 10 of HB's 12 points in that stretch, but wouldn't score again until his 3-pointer late in the game. "He was our key going in," Sokolnicki said. "We tried to get away with it early and it didn't work. We switched things up with different groups that we had out there. We wanted to make it more uncomfortable for him." With Fothergill unable to get any room to operate, Petersen stepped up in the first quarter, scoring 11 of his 13 points, and the Cavs led 27-16 at the end of one. The offense slowed in the second quarter, as HB kept the led near double digits until late, when a basket by Zac Carberry and a 3-pointer by Joseph Grinde helped the Saints cut the lead to five, 35-30, with just under a minute to go until halftime. But HB responded right away with a 3 by Stephen Giaconia. Bouchard came back with a 3 of his own with 15.7 seconds left, but a Tyler Pepin layup with 1.9 seconds to go made it 40-33 HB at the break. ![St. Thomas' Joseph Grinde and Hollis Brookline's Kyle Szewczky battle for a rebound.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/jmstahbbball010315-s5h14-1.jpg) St. Thomas' Joseph Grinde and Hollis Brookline's Kyle Szewczky battle for a rebound. The Saints controlled the start of the third quarter, forcing HB into a couple of turnovers to aid a 10-5 run that pulled St. Thomas within two points, 45-43. "We just were too slow with our ball movement, people weren't in good position a lot of the times," Soucy said. "If we move the ball, especially against their system, where they're just running people at the ball, if we move it quickly enough, we're going to get something positive, no matter who is on the floor. "It's easy to get sucked into a system like that and play the same way, and we did. Give them credit for that." After making it a two-point game, St. Thomas stopped HB and had a chance to tie or take its first lead, but turned the ball over with 2:39 left in the quarter. Riley Hamel hit a 3-pointer at the other end for the Cavs to make it 48-43 and HB pushed the lead back to eight points moments later. The Cavs went into the fourth up 52-47 and a putback by Bowler gave HB a 54-47 lead with just 15 seconds off the clock. Bouchard hit another 3-pointer for St. Thomas, pulling the Saints within four points, and turnovers and missed layups by the Cavs kept St. Thomas in the game. But with HB up six points, 59-53, with just over three minutes to go, Fothergill brought the ball down the court, and as soon as he found some open space, drilled a 3 to make it a nine-point game. "He stepped up," Sokolnicki said. "In a close game, that's a big shot. That's a senior shot he hit." It was shot that Soucy would have rather not seen his senior take. "It was a big basket and a big momentum changer for us," he said. "I won't say it was the best shot we could have taken at that time, even though we had some rebounders there. We're clinging to a lead and we're not playing particularly well. We can get that shot at any point in time." The Cavs killed enough clock and got a basket by Giaconia and two free throws by Fothergill to finish out the game.