Souhegan boys basketball storms past Laconia, into D2 semifinals (video)

AMHERST - Defense has been the backbone for the Souhegan High School boys basketball team this season, specifically a pressure defense that forces teams into mistakes and leads to offense for the Sabers.

But when they took a trip to Laconia just seven days ago, the Sabers didn't do what they usually do on defense and escaped with a five-point win, matching a season-high in points allowed.

For Friday's Division II quarterfinal, No. 1 Souhegan was back in familiar form, particularly in the third quarter, when the Sabers went on a 22-0 run to take command of the game on the way to a 67-40 win over No. 8 Laconia. The win sends the Sabers to the semifinals for the first time since 2013, where they will face No. 4 Lebanon at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Oyster River High School.

Matt Canavan scored a game-high 27 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead Souhegan (18-1), while John McBride was in double figured with 12 points. The Sabers forced 18 turnovers and held the Sachems scoreless for more than six minutes in the third quarter.

"I thought they were a little tight early, but that’s to be expected," Souhegan coach Peter Pierce said. "It’s their first tournament game for some of them. As they got into it, they got better. We just saw Laconia a week ago, so that helped us, too.

"We played them, we saw them on film, we made a couple of adjustments during the week. It all worked out well. The further we got into the game, the better."

Unlike the first meeting, the game had more of a flow to it, according to Pierce, after the teams combined for over 60 free throws a week ago. This time, without the stops and starts, Souhegan was able to use its pressure to keep turning defense into offense.

"It was disjointed, there was no flow to it," Pierce said of the first meeting with Laconia. "As our defensive pressure got up and running, we were able to convert in transition. We never saw that up there, so it was hard to get into a flow."

That pressure kept Laconia (11-9) from ever getting set up in its offense.

"They ratcheted up their pressure on our guards and we struggled to face them up," Laconia coach Steve McDonough said. "We were turning our back and dribbling scared a lot of the game. We weren’t able to get into much of our offense. We’re not a team that runs a lot of offense, we play really well in the flow."

Jacob Mello led the Sachems with 14 points and Kayden Roberts had 10 points, all in the first half, after scoring 27 against Souhegan a week ago. Keaton Beck and Nolin Stevens battled foul trouble throughout the night and combined to score just 13 points.

"Getting in foul trouble early with Nolan and Keaton definitely hurt us and we had to go with some lineups that we haven’t really played this year," McDonough said. "We’ve been lucky this year, we haven’t been in many situations like that."

Nolan Colby, who had seven points for Souhegan, led the way in the Sabers' containment of Roberts.

"I thought Colby’s defense was really good," Pierce said. "Matt (Canavan) was due. He’s been struggling lately to find his shot. He found it (Friday) and that’s when we really needed it."

Canavan helped the Sabers get out in front early in the second quarter, opening the frame with a 3-pointer to start Souhegan on a 10-0 run that gave it a 23-10 lead. The junior scored eight points during the run and finished the first half with 13, as the Sabers led 30-22 at the break.

Laconia started the second half with some momentum, cutting the Souhegan lead to three, 32-29, on a basket by Mello. But the Sabers answered right away, scoring six straight points in less than a minute to go up 38-29.

The Sachems used a timeout after that, but the Sabers kept coming, getting a pair of free throws from McBride and another 3 by Canavan to go up 43-29. He hit his final 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the third quarter and gave Souhegan a 54-29 lead going into the fourth.

Souhegan will be looking to advance to the final for the first time since 2013, when the Sabers defeated Lebanon in the final four before losing to Pembroke in the title game.

"It’s absolutely special," Pierce said. "It’s a great group of kids. I don’t have enough adjectives to describe what they’ve kids have done in 10 weeks. It’s a short season. There’s so many things that have worked out for us. They’re just good kids and good athletes."