Sports Insider by Frank Coppola: Warriors tighten grip on playoff spot

February 15, 2008

Warriors tighten grip on playoff spot

By Dan Doyon
HAMPTON — After his team led most of Tuesday’s game against Dover High School, Winnacunnet boys basketball coach Jay McKenna felt the Warriors let one slip away in the final minutes when the Green Wave rallied for a 54-49 victory.

McKenna didn’t want to see a repeat Friday against Concord, and thanks to a dominating start, the Warriors were in no danger.

Winnacunnet jumped out to a 12-0 lead, setting the tempo in its 64-38 Class L win. Winnacunnet broke a two-game losing skid and evened its record at 7-7 with four games left in the regular season.

Kyle Ratcliffe and Ryan Dubois each scored 14 points for Winnacunnet, while Jordan Boover had 12.

“We talked early on about coming out with intensity and with a defensive presence and we kind of did that early and set the tone on them and we kept it going the whole night,” McKenna said. “We’ve come out, jumped on teams early and let them back in. That was one of our goals tonight. To get out, get a nice early lead and maintain it. We were able to do that.”

The Warriors started the game with a full-court press and Concord (2-12) didn’t get its first basket until Randy Paciorkowski scored with 3:25 left in the first quarter.

The Warriors led 19-4 after the opening frame and shot 9-for-11 from the floor, with Dubois scoring 11 of his points in the quarter.

“One of the things we keep telling the kids is, ‘Let’s make it easy, let’s go to the basket,’” McKenna said. “We have a tendency to be complacent and settle for jumpers, so I was happy to see them be aggressive and push the ball down the floor.”

“Their aggressive defense really put the pressure on early and they showed a lot of poise and tough play out there, they deserved it,” Concord coach Todd Steffanides said. “That’s our storyline, we don’t take care of the basketball. And if you give a team like Winnacunnet extra possessions, they’re going to hurt you.”

Despite the double-digit lead, the Warriors were not perfect and had 16 turnovers in the first half. Concord played even with Winnacunnet in the second quarter and trailed 29-14 at halftime.

Winnacunnet came out with something to prove in the third and started the quarter on a 12-5 run, capped off by a Ryan Dunn 3-pointer for a 43-19 lead midway through the quarter.

“We got a little sloppy there in the second quarter,” McKenna said. “What we talked about at halftime was that (Concord is) a Class L team and we gave them some momentum. It was 10-10 in the quarter, and they showed they could play with us. In the third quarter we wanted to show them that wasn’t the case and the kids responded well.”

The Warriors are in prime position to make the Class L tournament for the first time since reaching the 2005 quarterfinals. Winnacunnet gets a big test Tuesday night at first-place Salem.

Posted by Frank Coppola at February 15, 2008 11:36 PM

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