Cavs outlast Marauders in season finale

Friday, March 8, 2013

Staff photo by JOE MARCHILENA

Hollis Brookline's PJ Flaum goes in for a layup during Thursday's game against Hanover.

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Staff photo by JOE MARCHILENA

Hollis Brookline's Max Friedman is fouled by Hanover's Cyrus Rothwell-Ferraris during Thursday's game, while Hanover's Ben Lynch defends.

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Staff photo by JOE MARCHILENA

Hollis Brookline's PJ Flaum goes in for a layup during Thursday's game against Hanover.

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Division II PLAYOFFS

FIRST ROUND: MARCH 6

No. 16 St. Thomas (5-13) at No. 1 Pembroke(18-0), 7 p.m.

No. 9 Plymouth (10-8) at No. 8 Pelham (10-8), 7 p.m.

No. 13 Coe Brown at No. 4 Hollis Brookline (14-4), 7 p.m.

No. 12 Windham (9-9) at No. 5 Oyster River (13-5), 7 p.m.

No. 15 Goffstown (6-12) at No. 2 Portsmouth
(15-3), 7 p.m.

No. 10 Hanover (9-9) at No. 7 Souhegan (11-7), 7 p.m.

No. 14 Merrimack Valley (7-11) at No. 3 Lebanon (14-4), 6:30 p.m.

No. 11 John Stark (9-9) at No. 6 Bishop Brady
(11-7), 7:30 p.m.

QUARTERFINALS

SATURDAY, MARCH 9

At home of higher seed, 7 p.m.

SEMIFINALS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13

University of New Hampshire, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

FINALS

SATURDAY, MARCH 16

University of New Hampshire, noon.

HOLLIS – The Hollis Brookline High School boys basketball team needed someone to make a play.

The Cavaliers trailed Hanover for most of the second half Thursday night, but with a minute to play, they were only down two points.

Not only did HB get a play, it got a couple of them. Shea Whalen, P.J. Flaum and Ryan Papineau all stepped up in the final seconds to help the Cavs pull out a 52-50 win over the Marauders in the Division II regular- season finale for both teams.

Flaum finished with a team-high 15 points, while Whalen had eight as the Cavs finished the season with a 14-4 record, and depending on tiebreakers, will be either the third or fourth seed in the tournament.

Hanover (9-9) got 17 points from John Flory and 15 from Liam Gantrish, as the Marauders were 20 for 24 from the free throw line.

But it was a missed Hanover free throw that kept HB in the game. With 1:01 to play, Gantrish missed the second of two foul shots, keeping it a 48-46 Hanover lead.Whalen converted a three-point play at the other end to put the Cavs ahead for the first time since early in the third quarter. But Gantrish wasted little time getting the Marauders the lead right back, scoring with 34 seconds left to make it 50-49.

This time it was Flaum who answered, nailing a floater with 22 seconds to go to put the Cavs back ahead. With about 15 seconds left, Hanover attempted a layup but the shot was off the mark and Papineau was fouled as he grabbed the rebound. The junior hit one of two free throws to make it a two-point game and Flory’s 3-point attempt right before the buzzer was no good.

The Cavs won despite shooting 8 of 20 from the line.