McNeff, Greco lift Exeter boys basketball past Goffstown, on to D1 quarterfinal

EXETER – Nate McNeff and Nik Greco knew heading into Wednesday night that it would be the last time they’d play a game inside the Exeter High School gymnasium when the Blue Hawks faced off against Goffstown in the opening round of the Division I boys tournament.

The dynamic senior duo then proceeded to give a memorable sendoff in front of their home crowd one final time.

McNeff started the night with a layup off the opening tip from Greco and finished with 24 points, while Greco dominated the paint to net 22 points in fifth-seeded Exeter’s 82-63 victory over No. 12 Goffstown.

“It’s our last game here but we definitely don’t want it to be the last game of the season,” McNeff said. “It was definitely huge to come out with intensity. Even though we were the higher seed, any team can come in and knock anybody off, especially this year. I think it’s huge to stay locked in, stay focused and play our game.”

Greco scored a season-high 29 points last month during Exeter’s 77-58 victory over Goffstown and he picked up where he left off against the Grizzlies with eight points in the first quarter.

McNeff (19.2 PPG) netted 11 points in that opening frame to give Exeter a 26-15 lead heading into the second quarter.

“We've been tight since we started playing basketball, right when I picked up a basketball, he’s been right by my side,” Greco said. “Now it’s the playoffs when we’re seniors in our last home game playing right next to him. We just compliment each other so well.”

McNeff and Greco now aim to extend their high school careers in Saturday’s quarterfinal when Exeter (15-4) travels to No. 4 Nashua South  (15-4). The Panthers advanced with a 55-49 win over No. 13 Merrimack (8-11).

“They’re phenomenal, they’ve been with us a long time and they played great today,” Exeter coach Jeff Holmes said. “We lean on them a lot, they’re really good players and they took over the game (Wednesday).”

McNeff and Greco received some huge help in the form of sophomore Tyle Ream, who poured in five 3-pointers for a season-high 17 points. Ream sandwiched a pair of treys around a Jack Thibodeau bucket to give Exeter a 42-28 halftime lead.

“He’s been coming a long great and (Wednesday) was his best performance,” Holmes said. “To have that in the tournament is a huge confidence booster for him.”

Goffstown (9-10) trailed 52-32 early in the third quarter before getting to within 58-43 entering the fourth. Isaiah Santos and Noah Durham (12 points) opened the fourth with back-to-back 3-pointers to trim the deficit to nine points, but Ream drained a 3-pointer of his own to give Exeter a 63-51 lead.

Tyler Dionne led Goffstown with 14 points.

“They shot really well; I felt like we contested their shots,” Goffstown coach Jerry Haynes said. “We made a run but we missed a couple of shots and they hit a couple.”

Exeter now moves onto the daunting task of trying to slow down the dynamic force of South’s Josh Caruso in Saturday’s quarterfinal. Caruso (27.3 PPG) carved Exeter for 32 points during South’s 64-52 victory two weeks ago.

“Caruso is going to get his points regardless, but the thing you want to stop him from is getting 30 or 40 because that’s when he’s really doing damage,” McNeff said. “Limiting easy buckets for him making him earn his buckets is huge and just playing our game on offense.”