Pembroke boys basketball starts fast to beat Souhegan

AMHERST – To say that the Pembroke Academy boys basketball team came out on fire Friday night would be an understatement.

The Spartans traveled to Souhegan for an mid-season showdown featuring a pair of 6-1 teams in the Division II landscape. Pembroke was ready to battle from the start, as it lighted up the scoreboard with 25 first-quarter points and built a 20-point lead in the second frame, before withstanding a fierce rally by the Sabers during a 70-60 win.

Junior forward Shea Shackford led the Spartans (7-1) with a game-high 21 points, featuring four 3s, nine points in the fourth and eight in the first. Senior guard Noah Cummings dropped 10 of his 18 points in the opening eight minutes, while cashing in on three shots from downtown during the contest.

“Shea has that top-of-the-key 3 down,” Spartans coach Rich Otis said. “When we run motion he pops out and even with a guy in his face; he is knocking them down consistently. Noah did a nice job against that 3-2 zone that they went to in the second and third quarter. Noah hit some big top-of-the-key shots in the third, and then Shea hit the big ones in the fourth.”

Sophomore Matthew McCool paced the Sabers (6-2) with a team-high 19 points, including 10 in the fourth, while seniors Jeffrey Boehm and Khaled Nazeer finished with 15 and nine points, respectively.

The visitors nailed four treys and used a 10-0 run to build a 20-5 advantage on a field goal by senior guard/forward Sean Menard.

Menard then buried a left-baseline three-ball at the first-quarter buzzer, catapulting the lead up to 25-11. Two minutes, 16 seconds into the game, Cummings showcased his versatility, going down low and grabbing an offensive rebound with the power players en route to cashing in on an old-fashioned three-point play.

“That was our best first quarter of the year,” Otis said. “We played well, came out with a lot of energy, hit some big shots and were patient on offense.”

The onslaught continued for the first couple minutes of the second quarter, as Pembroke opened the frame on an 8-2 run. A jumper by Shackford with 6:20 left pushed the cushion up to 33-13, which was the Spartans’ largest lead of the night.

Souhegan slowly and surely chipped away, finishing the half on a 12-2 surge. The run concluded with a jump hook in the paint by Nazeer with three seconds left, and Souhegan only trailed 35-25 heading into the break.

The Sabers rolled into the second half, scoring the first four points, including a great sequence by junior Trey Johnson, who posted a steal on one end, and then traveled the length of the court to convert a layup. A free throw by McCool with 5:11 remaining pulled the hosts to within five at 37-32, capping off a ferocious 19-4 push going back to the first half. The hosts won the second, 14-10, and the third, 9-8.

“The slow start really hurt us,” Sabers coach Peter Pierce said. “I give credit to the Spartans. They came in and played with more intensity than we did. We did not get any traction until the second quarter. I am proud of my guys because they fought back. We cut the deficit to five in that third, and then we did not close out like we were closing out in the first half. That is the name of the game. They shoot the three-ball well.”

The sharpshooting Cummings did what a senior is expected to do and stemmed the tide when the going got rough. He pushed the Spartans’ lead back up to eight on a top-of-the-arc 3-pointer with 3:50 left in the third, and then cashed in on another straight-on 3 with 2:20 left, giving his team a 43-34 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

Shackford took over in the fourth, dropping eight points in the opening 2:40 with a pair of treys and a long jumper. A 3-point shot by senior guard Tim Pitman blew the game open with 4:54 left, extending the visitors’ advantage to 57-42. Pitman was huge down the stretch, burying nine crucial foul shots in the fourth, as he finished with 12 points in the frame.

“We knew coming in that it was going to be a dogfight,” Otis said. “It was definitely a confidence booster to come on the road and beat a quality team. For us to come away with a 10-point win when they made a run to cut it to five says something about the character of our team and our kids.”