By Roger Brown
MaxPreps.com
All things considered, it was probably the biggest shot Ben Etten has made in his basketball-playing career.
Top-seeded Hollis-Brookline trailed eighth-seeded St. Thomas by two points with one second to play when Etten stepped across the half-court line and launched a 3-pointer that handed Hollis-Brookline a 56-55 victory in Sunday's Class I quarterfinals.
"No, I've never, ever hit a shot like that," Etten told the Portsmouth Herald. "We just wanted to get it up the floor and get some kind of shot off. I thought it felt pretty good when it left my hand. I could just see it go in when I hit the floor."
St. Thomas trailed by 19 points in the third quarter, but fought all the way back and looked like it was headed to the semifinals when Jake Katz gave the Saints a 55-53 lead with 2.5 second to play, but Etten got his shot off just before the buzzer sounded. St. Thomas completed its season with a 13-6 record.
"It was just a miracle shot," St. Thomas coach Dan Parr said. "It's unfortunate because it really took away the best comeback I've ever been associated with. Not just because of the points we were down, but because of a very good team it was against."
Etten, a point guard, finished with a game-high 19 points.
Hollis-Brookline (17-3) will face fourth-seeded Portsmouth (16-4) in Wednesday's semifinals. Tenth-seeded Hanover (12-8) will meet sixth-seeded Kearsarge (16-4) in Wednesday's other semifinal.
The Class I, Class M and Class S championship games will all be played Saturday. The Class M and Class S games will be held at Plymouth State University, and the Class I game will be at the University of New Hampshire.
Girls Basketball: Newport, Sunapee Win Titles
Class M Newport and Class S Sunapee each wrapped up an unbeaten season by winning a state championship Saturday.
Sophomore Samantha Hemingway scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead top-seeded Newport to a 59-53 victory over Newfound Regional in the Class M title game, and top-seeded Sunapee won its third consecutive Class S championship with a 43-33 victory over Groveton.
Newport, which lost to Belmont in last year's Class M championship game, completed its season with a 22-0 record. It was Newport's first unbeaten season since 1980, when it beat Inter-Lakes for the Class M title.
Melissa Beaulieu (13), Abbie Kennedy (12) and Megan Beaulieu (11) also scored in double figures for the Tigers, who used an 8-0 run early in the third quarter to take a 36-28 lead.
Newfound's Maggie Seaver led all scorers with 22 points. Caitlin O'Connor added 14 and Emily Mattson tossed in 10. Newfound's Kayla White had a game-high 12 rebounds.
Third-seeded Newfound finished 19-3.
Defense carried Sunapee to its latest championship. No Sunapee player scored in double figures, but the Lakers held Groveton to 15 points in the second half.
Groveton freshman Emily Pelletier scored a game-high 10 points, but was held scoreless in the final two quarters.
The victory improved Sunapee's record to 21-0. Groveton, which won the first of five consecutive Class S championships in 1999, finished 20-2.
Jillian Hurd led Sunapee with nine points.
Hockey: Top Seeds Still Alive
The semifinals in each of the state's three divisions will be played this week. Division I and Division II games are scheduled for Tuesday, and the Division III contests will be held Wednesday.
Division I: Second-seeded Bishop Brady will meet sixth-seeded Manchester Memorial (5:30 p.m.), and top-seeded Bishop Guertin will face fifth-seeded Pinkerton Academy (8 p.m.). Both games will be played at Saint Anselm College.
Division II: Second-seeded Oyster River will skate against third-seeded Timberlane (5:30 p.m.), and top-seeded Spaulding will meet fourth-seeded Bow (8 p.m.). Those games will be held at the Exeter Ice House.
Division III: Second-seeded Kennett will play third-seeded Souhegan (5:15 p.m.), and top-seeded Somersworth will face fourth-seeded John Stark (7:30 p.m.). Both contests will be played at Concord's Everett Arena.
Wrestling: Five Shine at New Englands
Six New Hampshire wrestlers prevailed in their weight class at Saturday's New England Championships: Salem's Aaron Kalil (119 pounds), Salem's Trevor Deardon (125), Concord's Tyler Saltsman (130), Bow's D.J. Meagher (145) and Timberlane's Derek Sickel (171).
There were 161 teams represented at the event, which was held in New Haven, Conn.