Resilience, results defined PHS title

DURHAM — Coach Jim Mulvey had already shed his overshirt. Calvin Hewett had a net draped around his neck.

The celebration on the court was in full swing after the Portsmouth High School basketball team beat Dover, 46-38, to win the program’s second straight Division I title, when players and coaches were called over to pose for final pictures in front of the NHIAA championship banner.

Hewett, the team’s sophomore point forward, wedged himself into the photo. Mulvey hastily buttoned a jacket he’d grabbed and joined the group.

No matter. This championship wasn’t about appearances. It was about resilience and results.

All three of the playoff wins for the top-seeded Clippers (19-2) were decided in the fourth quarter. Their winning margins were 12, five and eight, a far cry from the dominance of the tourney wins the last two years.

“It’s characteristic of us, to be honest,” said senior guard Mike Sanborn. “Coach talks a lot about grinding it out and always seeing the positive side, always looking forward to the next play, and just staying focused through the whole game and never giving an inch.

“That’s a big reason we were able to do this.”

In the final, the Clippers were matched up against a talented and motivated Dover team, one that banded around senior guard Devin Cady, whose father had passed away just hours before the tournament began.

It re-acquainted the Portsmouth seniors with their own grief, from the death of their classmate, David Kohlhase Jr., from a snow-tubing accident in January. He was in their thoughts when it was over.

“They’re battling through a lot but so are we,” noted Sanborn. “We’re playing for our friend David. It’s emotional. We’re doing it for him.”

Junior forward Alex Tavares and senior guard Cody Graham traded off the role of star during the tournament. Tavares was the best player in a 50-45 win over Manchester Central in the semifinals, scoring a game-high 23 points.

Graham, who last month became the all-time leading scorer in school history, netted 25 in the quarterfinal win against Winnacunnet and brought the championship win home, not only scoring 22 points and making the big free throws at the end, but prodding and encouraging the less-experienced players.

“There’s kids, this is their first time playing on this floor in front of this big crowd, and Alex and myself had to calm them down,” said Graham. “There were some late, clumsy turnovers, and we had to tell them, ‘It’s going to be alright; we’re going to pull this thing out. Stick with it.’”

In eight games at UNH, semifinals and finals in each of his four seasons, Graham has scored 120 points, for an average of 15.

“This environment, I’m going to miss it,” he said.

I joined colleagues Ryan O’Leary and John Doyle on a Saturday evening podcast and the best question they threw my way was this: Where does this champion Portsmouth team rank among the great ones before it?

That’s a question we were hotly debating at this time last year, after 6-foot-5 future UMass-Lowell player Joey Glynn led the Clippers to a 21-0 record and dominant state title in their first season back in Division I in a decade. It was easy to put that squad right at the pinnacle, with the 1984 and ‘94 squads, Thorpe Weber’s 1965 team and maybe a couple others.

This team? It had zero players taller than 6-foot-3 in its rotation and — as of now — zero scholarship players, though Mulvey feels Tavares will attract interest down the road.

Graham is still exploring basketball and football options, likely at the Division III level. Sanborn admits his future will focus more on engineering than hoops. Hewett is a likely Division I baseball commit.

Maybe not a team for the ages. But a great team. Together, the performance of players combined with impeccable preparation produced another basketball title run that not many thought was coming back in December.

“It’s special,” said Mulvey. “This year, in Division I … it’s special.”

Where does the program go from here? Mulvey vowed next year’s team will be deeper, but Tavares, Hewett and forward Griffin Ritzo will be the only returnees with significant varsity experience. It will be depth grown in the offseason and in summer play.

“They’re going to have their work cut out for them, for sure,” said Sanborn. “But I’m sure Coach Mulvey will put them into shape pretty quickly and they’ll be a good, contending team.”

Mike Zhe is a Herald staff writer. He can be reached at mzhe@seacoastonline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MikeZhe603.