{"id":10659,"date":"2024-02-07T12:21:36","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T12:21:36","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"Coe-Brown-John-Stark-boys-basketball-53936135\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=10659","title":{"rendered":"Boys\u2019 basketball: Coe-Brown takes John Stark\u2019s best punch, digs down to win in overtime"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Coe-Brown
Coe-Brown guard Matthew Flanagan drives to the basket over the outstretched arm of John Stark forward Donnie White during the first half on Tuesday night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"John
John Stark forward Donnie White gets fouled by Coe-Brown guard Matthew Flanagan as he drives to the basket during the first half on Tuesday night, February 6, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"John
John Stark guard Logan Montgomery lunges for a loose ball during the first half on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Coe-Brown
Coe-Brown forward Quinn Salter goes up for a lay up against John Stark guard Reagan Webb during the first half on Tuesday night, February 6, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Coe-Brown
Coe-Brown forward Connor Bagnell goes up for a tip in against John Stark on Tuesday night, February 6, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Coe-Brown
Coe-Brown players Jack Matson (15) and Ryan Kouchoukos (21) try to save the ball in the chaotic last seconds of the game against John Stark on Tuesday, February 6, 2024. Coe-Brown went on to win, 61-53 in overtime.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>

NORTHWOOD \u2013\u00a0If you didn\u2019t know any better, you probably would\u2019ve mistaken it for a playoff game.<\/p>\n

Coe-Brown at 10-2; John Stark at 5-9. The Bears fighting to stay in the top four of the Division II standings; the Generals fighting to make the playoffs. It wasn\u2019t the prettiest game of basketball played on Tuesday night, but it sure was entertaining.<\/p>\n

The game was tied 12-12 after one quarter, Coe-Brown had a 25-22 lead at halftime and the two teams entered the fourth quarter tied at 36. Only in overtime \u2013\u00a0after Bears\u2019 junior Matthew Flanagan connected on two free throws at the end of regulation to tie the score at 49 \u2013 did Coe-Brown finally awaken from a game-long slumber, pulling away for a 61-53 victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe positive thing is that we had to make a lot of stops in the fourth quarter, and we did,\u201d Coe-Brown head coach Dave Smith said.\u00a0\u201cNot to take anything away from (John Stark)\u00a0because they did everything they had to do. They like to play a helter skelter-type of game. They\u2019re very physical, very aggressive, they hit some big shots. We were just fortunate to be able to make some stops when we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears\u2019 free throw shooting didn\u2019t do them any favors, leaving 15 points at the line. But as has often been the case this season, their defense delivered.<\/p>\n

Tuesday was the ninth time in the last 10 games that Coe-Brown has held its opponent to under 50 points in regulation. Even trailing 48-45 with just 40.2 seconds left in the fourth, the Bears strung together just enough stops.<\/p>\n

Asked to explain his defense\u2019s success all season, Smith provided a simple response.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe willingness to work hard every day on defense is the key,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s gotta be our game. Offense comes and goes, good nights and bad nights, but defensively, it has to be important, and I think it is important to us. Hopefully we can continue that because we\u2019ve got a lot of tough games ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears also had four players reach double figures in scoring, with senior\u00a0Quinn Salter and junior\u00a0Jack Matson each contributing 15 points, while junior\u00a0Ryan Kouchoukos added 11 and Flanagan scored 10.<\/p>\n

On the other side, the Generals turned in a thoroughly impressive effort in their own right, despite not being able to pick up the win. Effort and intensity have\u00a0been just as, if not more, central to how John Stark\u2019s played this season, and this was the latest example. It kept the Generals\u00a0in the game, but they just seemed to run out of steam during the extra four minutes of overtime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just super proud of them,\u201d John Stark head coach Mike Smith said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a really important week next week. I feel confident that we have the type of team that, they\u2019re ready to meet a challenge like that. They\u2019ve been playing well here for the most part over the last week, week-and-a-half. I\u2019m excited to see what we can do here to finish out the season. The only thing I could say to them was I was proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior forward Donnie White led the Generals in scoring with 13 points; junior guard Hayden Pond added 10.<\/p>\n

Now 5-10, John Stark currently sits in\u00a015th\u00a0place out of 20 teams in D-II. The top 14 qualify for the playoffs. The Generals play their final three regular season games against Merrimack Valley (6-8), Sanborn (6-8) and Pembroke (11-2).<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Tonight is what we\u2019re working for; this is what we\u2019re working toward, so be aware,\u2019\u201d Mike Smith said he told his team. \u201cSometimes you make these goals about, \u2018Let\u2019s make the tournament.\u2019 If we make the tournament, we want to compete; we just don\u2019t want to be happy to be there. We saw tonight, (Coe-Brown) is a really good team. We hung with them the whole time. I was proud of how we prepped and how we executed and just their guts. We just got some kids that are just really gutty kids, and it\u2019s fun to watch them play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday was also significant in that it was the annual matchup between father Dave Smith and son Mike Smith. Their games against each other are usually a battle, Dave said after. This was no different.<\/p>\n

And it had the added benefit of featuring two teams playing for playoff seeding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult. I don\u2019t really look forward to it,\u201d Dave said of coaching against his son.\u00a0\u201cHe knows what we\u2019re going to do. We know pretty much what he\u2019s going to do. \u2026 You know what\u2019s going to happen. You know it\u2019s not going to be easy regardless.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NORTHWOOD \u2013\u00a0If you didn\u2019t know any better, you probably would\u2019ve mistaken it for a playoff game.Coe-Brown at 10-2; John Stark at 5-9. The Bears fighting to stay in the top four of the Division II standings; the Generals fighting to make the playoffs….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":188,"featured_media":10660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"by [Author id=188]Eric Rynston-Lobel[\/Author] Monitor staff","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,508],"tags":[374,24,200,505],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[533],"class_list":["post-10659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-high-school-youth","category-top-headlines-cm","tag-coe-brown-northwood-academy","tag-facebook","tag-john-stark-regional-high-school","tag-paywall","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/42869442-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/188"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10661,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10659\/revisions\/10661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10659"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=10659"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=10659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}