Second-half comeback lifts Somersworth boys basketball past Campbell in D3 final

MANCHESTER - Bryton Early thought the Somersworth High School boys basketball team needed to get the trust back.

Hilltoppers coach Rob Fauci felt his team was playing too much "hero ball."

Tyler Clark said it seemed the pace Campbell was playing at forced he and his teammates to do things they wouldn't normally do.

Whatever it was, No. 2 Somersworth figured out how to get back to playing its own game during Saturday night's Division III championship game, and the Hilltoppers were able to outlast No. 5 Campbell for a 53-38 win at Southern New Hampshire University.

Down eight points midway through the third quarter, the Hilltoppers (20-2) went on a 12-0 run to end the frame, taking a 34-30 lead on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Clark. Somersworth held Campbell (17-5) to just eight points over the final 12 minutes of the game.

"They were trying to take a lot on themselves, so everybody else was kind of just standing around," Fauci said. "We really emphasized at halftime, moving and sharing the ball and believing in one another. They did a great job."

Clark had a game-high 14 points and grabbed six rebounds while Early had 11 points, six rebounds and five assists. Evan Gray added seven points and 15 boards and Ethan Johnson recorded all nine of his points in the fourth quarter and had six rebounds.

"It was getting away from us," Early said. "They were working 10 times harder than us. I give credit to them because they were working their heart out. At halftime in the locker room, we really questioned, it’s a championship, do we want to win or not? That’s what we did. We gave our heart out for it.

"It was our trust. We all trusted our teammates. Everybody could do what they had to do. Everybody contributed."

Somersworth held the edge on the boards, outrebounding Campbell 48-34, and the Hilltoppers shot 40 percent from the field (20 of 50), including 13 of 24 in the second half.

Campbell got 11 points off the bench from Justin Furlong - all in the third quarter - while James Scafidi added 10 points and seven rebounds while battling foul trouble all game. The senior played just 18 minutes before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

The Cougars' fast pace led to them putting up 64 field goals, but they made just 25 percent of them. In the first half, that was a enough to come back from an early deficit, as Somersworth took an 11-6 lead after one quarter.

But after a jumper by Clark gave the Hilltoppers a 13-9 lead 33 seconds into the second quarter, Campbell would go on a 10-1 run to take a 19-14 lead. Somersworth went without a point for almost five minutes and without a field for six.

"It was us going to hero ball, having one person take the air out of the ball," Fauci said. "That forces everybody else to fall asleep. Then it becomes one-on-four or five. They did a great job rotating help and our guys weren’t putting themselves in position where they could catch and shoot."

Campbell took a 22-18 lead into the break, as Furlong hit his third 3 of the second with under a minute to play in the half. The Cougars opened the third quarter outscoring Somersworth 8-4 to lead 30-22 with 4:03 left to play before the fourth.

While the Hilltoppers started to spread the ball around on offense, Fauci made adjustments to the defense and the Cougars started to hit a wall.

"We picked up halfcourt man," the coach said. "Personal accountability from a defensive standpoint and everybody did a great job. Our No. 1 thing is don’t try to get a steal, just try to keep them in front of you. Don’t stress out our help defense.

"(We) started putting more pressure, which forced them into difficult shots and that was the difference. It gives us easy opportunities and allowed us to get a better feel for the game. Then we were able to get a bit of a distance."

And a championship, the program's first since 2011.