Keene boys basketball reaches first title game since 1992 with win over Portsmouth in D1 semis (video)

ROCHESTER - It had been about 15 minutes since the end of Wednesday's Division I boys basketball semifinal and reality was starting to sink in for Javon Massiah.

The Keene High School senior looked back toward the court as he spoke with reporters, his face a mix of awe and jubilation.

"This is actually real," Massiah said. "We’re going to the championship. It’s crazy."

Yes, the sixth-seeded Blackbirds will play for the D1 crown after hanging on for a 61-60 win over No. 2 Portsmouth at the Rochester Recreation & Arena. It's the first time Keene has advanced to a title game since making the Class L final in 1992 and just the sixth time in program history, with the other four coming before 1964, when there was only one champion each year.

The Blackbirds (16-5) will try for their first title at 4 p.m. Sunday at the University of New Hampshire against No. 1 Bedford, which held off No. 5 Exeter 58-55 in the other semifinal.

"This could be one of the best Keene teams of all time," Massiah said. "We could really do it. A lot of people had no faith that Keene was going to come here and shock the gym."

There weren't many not wearing black and orange who thought that midway through the first half, when Portsmouth (17-4) led by as many as 11 points. But Keene closed out the final two minutes of the half with an 8-0 run that made it a three-point game at halftime.

"I feel like we just dug deep as a team," Keene junior Kasen Abbott said. "It was huge going into halftime. We believed in each other and got it done. I think we just executed a little better and we played harder."

From there, it was back and forth throughout the second half, with the lead changing hands seven times and the score tied five times.

A three-point play by Massiah put Keene up 57-55 with 47.2 seconds remaining and he added two more free throws with 17.2 to go to make it a four-point game. A putback by Portsmouth's Finn McCauley made it 59-57 but it took 11 seconds to get the basket.

By the time the Clippers fouled Keene's Jamal Stanley after the Blackbirds put the ball in play, only 5.2 seconds remained. Stanley hit both free throws for another four-point lead, but Portsmouth wasn't done.

Isaiah Reis got down the floor quickly and pulled up for a 3-pointer, with Massiah to his right. As the Clippers junior took the shot, he leaned into Massiah, trying to draw a foul for a potential four-point play.

The shot was good, but there was no call from the officials, and the Blackbirds celebrated.

"Isaiah is a great player," Massiah said. "They had to go for the four-point play. He hit the shot and I was looking at the refs. I thought they were going to blow the whistle and they didn’t. We won and I was just glad to get out of there."

Massiah finished with a game-high 27 points, including an 8 for 9 performance at the free throw line, while Abbott added 16 points with four 3-pointers. Christian Hennessey also chipped in eight points for Keene, which also beat Portsmouth, 69-64, when the teams met in the regular season.

Reis also had 16 points, with four 3s, for Portsmouth and freshman Derek Swartz led the Clippers with 19 points. McCauley and Anthony Ferola each finished with eight points.

"I thought our outside shooting in the second half really sealed it," Keene coach Ray Boulay said. "Kasen Abbott started it, Javon hit some big ones, but with all that being said, I think us matching the physicality of Portsmouth, crashing the glass, wanting to get in the paint, and just try to make it hard for Reis. I think it was a combination of those three things."

It all added up to an historic night for the Blackbirds, with one more shot at making history to go.