HAMPTON — Jay McKenna and the Winnacunnet High School boys basketball team, thanks to Wednesday’s postponed game against Pinkerton Academy, are still looking forward to playing in their first home game.
In fact, of all 87 New Hampshire high schools in the four divisions, Winnacunnet is the only boys basketball team to yet to play a home game.
“At this point, it is humorous but it’s not a huge concern,” McKenna said Wednesday in an impromptu break in the schedule. “It’s not overwhelming or discouraging, it’s just what it is.”
Winnacunnet (4-1) is scheduled to play host to Trinity Friday. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m.
The Pioneers, at 0-6, are one of two remaining Division I teams still searching for its first win. Keene (0-6) is the other winless team.
“Trinity is hungry and wanting to put a game in the win column,” McKenna said. “If you let them do what the want and don’t make things difficult for them, assume that because they’re 0-6 that they can’t paly, you’re making a huge mistake.”
Trinity is led by guards Zach Dagan and Will Spencer, and forward Athiei Bol.
“We’ve watched them on film and those three are good basketball players,” McKenna said. “We have to focus on this (game) and make sure we limit what those guys can do.”
Trinity has lost by an average of 14.2 points a game. Most recently, it dropped a 70-56 decision at home against Exeter on Monday.
State of Division I
Exeter (6-0) is the lone remaining undefeated team in Division I, winning by an average of 12.5 points a game; that number is somewhat skewed by a 33-point victory against Concord.
Winnacunnet (4-1) is in a six-team cluster with just one loss, joining Portsmouth, Alvirne and Londonderry, all at 5-1, and Manchester Memorial and Manchester Central, both at 4-1.
Conversely, eight teams are below .500, with Merrimack (3-3) the lone team at .500.
“It tends to run that way in the beginning of the season,” McKenna said. “You tend to see some teams jump out or fall behind and then when the schedule starts to go on throughout the season you tend to see things even out. I would imagine some of those teams that are well above .500 at this point will creep down to more of an even record, and likewise with teams at the bottom; I am sure some of those teams will creep back up in the standings.”
Breaking down the film
When McKenna and his staff watched tape of last Friday’s four-point loss to Bedford one thing became apparent.
“We made too many defensive mistakes,” McKenna said. “One of the things that we have really stressed with this group is keeping the ball out of the paint. If the ball gets into the paint it leads to open shots, inside or outside. When the ball is the paint you have to help, and if you are helping that’s going to expose you on the outside. We had too many guys get into the paint on Friday night and that led to many open shots, which they made.”
Bedford also hit on 24 of 34 free throw attempts, compared to just 11 of 14 for Winnacunnet.
“They made more free throws than we took,” McKenna said. “If we can tighten up that defense, which we know we can, make some more free throws, keep guys out of foul trouble ... I think that game has a very different outlook; those are things that stood out.”
Crimson Tide transition
Concord enters Friday’s game at Nashua South with a 2-4 record and riding a four-game losing streak.
However, three of Concord’s latest losses have been by a combined five points, dropping home games against Londonderry (53-52), Merrimack (58-57) and Bedford (57-54).
David Chase is in his second year at Concord, coming over from Hopkinton where he enjoyed success at the Division III level.
“Hopkinton was there in the mix to win every year,” McKenna said. “He’s in the process of changing the culture of Concord basketball and I think it’s only a matter of time before they are very much at the top of the standings. I think we’re seeing that now. They are going through that transition, they’re playing well against tough teams. They’re and up-and-coming team and they’re on our radar.”
Concord will visit Winnacunnet on Tuesday, Jan. 30.
“It will be a challenging game,” McKenna said. “I am glad that’s going to be at our place. They could easily be 4-2 with a couple of signature wins. They’re a good basketball team.”