EXETER— The number of unbeaten teams in NHIAA Division I boys’ basketball was reduced by one Tuesday night when Exeter took down Salem, 43-33, at Exeter High School.
Salem took a one-point lead on a Ben Laycock basket early in the fourth quarter, but the Salem offense vanished after that. The Blue Devils didn’t score for the final 6:23.
“I think our energy was inconsistent,” Salem coach Rob McLaughlin said. “We’ve been talking about playing for 32 minutes every night, and we didn’t play at our maximum for 32 minutes. They did.”
Exeter trailed 21-18 at halftime, but opened the third quarter with a 12-2 run. Salem (7-1) used a 6-2 spurt to slice Exeter’s lead to 32-29 after three quarters, but after Salem scored the first two baskets in the fourth the Blue Hawks ended the game on an 11-0 run.
Exeter (7-0) and Winnacunnet (7-0) are the only unbeaten teams remaining in Division I. Winnacunnet (7-0) didn’t play Tuesday night.
“Offense isn’t always there, but the defense can always be there,” Exeter coach Jeff Holmes said. “I was real pleased with the guys defensively to hold that team to 12 points in the second half. I thought we played hard man defense and the kids made some plays when it counted.”
Exeter sophomore Josh Morissette led all scorers with 13 points. Kevin Henry scored 11 and was the only other player in the game who scored in double figures. The Blue Hawks received seven points from Ryan Grijalva and six from Cam Clark.
Five of Salem’s 12 field goals were 3-pointers. Exeter had two steals in the second half of the fourth quarter that resulted in Henry layups. The second of those two layups stretched Exeter’s lead to 40-33 with 2:50 left.
“As much as we struggled I thought our defense kept us in it for a while,” McLaughlin said. “It was a one- or two-point game early in the fourth and then we struggled a little bit. We started forcing some stuff and taking some uncharacteristic looks. Then the turnovers. There was one point I think we turned it over two or three times (in a row) and that was the difference.”
Senior guard Zack Caraballo led Salem with nine points. Jared Burns finished with eight and Laycock had five.
It was the second meeting between the teams this season. Exeter beat Salem 59-56 in the first round of the Queen City Invitational Basketball Tournament in late December.
“They make it a half-court game,” Holmes said. “They made it kind of ugly and we just had to grind it out. You have to to that in high school basketball without a shot clock. I was pleased with the win. They’re not always going to be pretty.”
