New Hampshire Championships Decided

New England Recruiting Report | Saturday, March 20th, 2010

With two championships already decided, the NHIAA season finally concluded on Saturday with the crowning of the state champions in Class I and L

The Class L championship was decided in dramatic fashion as Zach Mathieu led Pinkerton Academy to a 61-59 win in double overtime.  The game went back and forth the entire way, including throughout the second overtime, with a reported 12 lead changes and 10 ties throughout the course of the contest. 

Ultimately the game came down to the final play in overtime when Pinkerton’s Ben Proulx fired a three-pointer with his team trailing by one.  The shot missed everything but Mathieu grabbed the air-ball and put it back in as he was fouled for the old fashioned three point play. 

The final free-throw gave Mathieu 37 points for the game, setting a new record for most points in an NHIAA championship game.  Mathieu also set a new record for most points scored in the tournament with 112 through four games. 

In Class I Mike OLoughlin scored a game high 23 points to lead Milford to a 52-46 win over Pembroke for the state championship. 

O’Loughlin was at his best in the fourth quarter when he either scored or assisted on all 14 of Milford’s points.  The junior swingman was bouncing back from a disappointing performance in last year’s state tournament where his team lost in the quarterfinals after he missed two free-throws with five seconds left in the game and his team trailing by 1.  This year O’Loughlin couldn’t have been much better down the stretch.

Milford was playing without starting point guard Mike Mitchell who was suspended for the game because of a disciplinary matter at school.  Jamie Holder stepped up in his absence, moving over to the point guard position and scoring 10 of his 14 points in the first half. 

The NHIAA had already crowned their state champions in Classes M and S prior to Saturday.  In Class M Conant held off Berlin 41-35 for the title, completing their perfect season.  Sean Martin scored 20 points for Conant while Curtis Arsenault led Berlin with 18. 

In Class S third seeded Groveton knocked off eighth seeded Littleton 52-49 for the title behind 19 points from Cody Brown.