\n\t\t<\/aside>\n\u201cI just told them, it\u2019s going to go one of two ways: you scrap and claw your way back into this, or it\u2019s going to be a 20-25 point loss,\u201d Ayres said. \u201cThey told me \u2018no coach, it\u2019s going one way, we\u2019re going to come back, we\u2019re scraping our way back.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
With about six minutes remaining in the third quarter and the Hawks ahead 32-20, Mascoma would begin to mount a comeback.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ballou and senior Connor Hemmerling got things started, each hitting layups to cut their deficit to eight.<\/p>\n
Then came a pivotal sequence, courtesy of senior Declan Lyons, who had just four points on the night, but they came at a critical moment.<\/p>\n
Lyons scored to make the game 32-26 with about three minutes left in the third quarter. <\/p>\n
On the Hawks\u2019 next possession, he stole the ball and laid it in at the other end to cut the Hopkinton lead to four.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been doing that all year,\u201d Ayres said. \u201cI love Declan coming off the bench, being that spark.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had full confidence in my role. We all have roles on our team\u2026 I knew my role, and my scorers were having a tough time; the team was overplaying them, and I knew I needed to hit a couple of clutch shots,\u201d Lyons said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Hawks, out of a timeout, steadied themselves momentarily after the Lyons sequence, scoring four unanswered points, but Mascoma responded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Royals closed the third quarter on a 9-0 run from Ballou and senior Brayden Pierce, who had 14 points on the night, and took their first lead of the game, 37-36, as the third quarter ended.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the fourth quarter, another 9-0 run \u2014 fueled by Ballou, Pierce and senior Aidan Hemmerling \u2014 had the Royals up 46-38 with less than a minute to play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ballou and Hemmerling iced the game with free throws to send the Royals to the state championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\n\u201cI\u2019m just glad to be back in the championship, because we\u2019ve come up short a couple of years,\u201d Ballou said.<\/p>\n
Awaiting the Royals in the championship is No. 4 seed Gilford, which defeated Mascoma in its last finals appearance. The squads did not meet this regular season.<\/p>\n
Ayres\u2019 message to his team heading into the final is simple: \u201cCome with energy, take care of the basketball, and it\u2019s a game of possessions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we can learn from tonight, moving forward, for sure,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The NHIAA Division III state championship tips off at 4 p.m.\u00a0on Saturday at Keene State College\u2019s Spaulding Gym.<\/p>\nMascoma\u2019s Brayden Pierce drives to the basket with Hopkinton\u2019s Kristof Cauley and Ben Normand defending him during their NHIAA D-III semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Bedford, N.H. Mascoma won, 49-41. JENNIFER HAUCK \/ Valley News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMascoma head coach Silas Ayres walks along his bench in the fourth quarter of their NHIAA D-III semifinal with Hopkinton on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Bedford, N.H. Mascoma won, 49-41. JENNIFER HAUCK \/ Valley News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMascoma\u2019s Bryce Ballou scrambles for the ball with Hopkinton\u2019s Kyle Bueite during their NHIAA D-III semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Bedford, N.H. Mascoma won, 49-41. JENNIFER HAUCK \/ Valley News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMascoma\u2019s Reece Yorke and his teammates react in the last minute of their game with Hopkinton during their NHIAA D-III semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Bedford, N.H. Mascoma won, 49-41. JENNIFER HAUCK \/ Valley News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source vnews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEDFORD, N.H. \u2014 For the first time since 2023, the Mascoma High boys basketball program is headed to the NHIAA Division III state championship. The No. 2-seeded Royals completed a gutsy comeback to defeat the No. 3 seed Hopkinton High Hawks, 49-41, in a semifinal matchup at Bedford High on Tuesday night.\u00a0Senior Bryce Ballou led […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2299752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[445606,22672,369627],"class_list":["post-2299751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-homecenterpiece1","tag-latest-news","tag-mascoma-high"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Mascoma-High-boys-basketball-team-reaches-state-finals.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2299751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2299751"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2299751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2299753,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2299751\/revisions\/2299753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2299752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2299751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2299751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2299751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}