DURHAM, N.H. — His team's double-digit lead melting away, his State Player of the Year candidate playing one-handed (able to use only his weaker hand), Pelham High coach Todd Kress wondered aloud what Justin Hojlo would be able to give him in the final eight minutes.
Kress had no idea what Hojlo's suddenly-inspired teammates were about to deliver.
Behind energized sophomores Stephen Spirou and Michael Lombard the top-seeded Pythons bravely fended off hard-charging Laconia, 56-54, in last night's Class I state semifinal before about 1,500 at a raucous Lundholm Gymnasium.
"We've relied on Justin basically all season," said Spirou the Hero, who burst into the spotlight when Hojlo jammed his shooting hand into the hardwood with 3:53 left in the third quarter. "We've worked in practice about situations like this without him. I didn't know what happened at first. When I saw him come out, at first I was worried. But I've been in big games my whole life. I've been through it."
Saturday afternoon here at 2:30, the Pythons will play for a state title against Portsmouth. Judging by the shade of purple in the swelling around his shooting hand, Hojlo's status is clearly questionable at best.
"It will be fine," assured Hojlo, who missed his only shot and went 1 for 6 from the foul line after the injury. "It's just a bad jam."
Spirou scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half, 13 after Hojlo was forced to play the final 12 minutes basically lefthanded.
His classmate Lombard was equally up to the task. The two-way starter on the Division 5 champion football team had one field goal in a seven-point night.
His foul-line jumper with Hojlo agonizing and Laconia sniffing upset — the Sachems had just sliced a 12-point lead to four — might have been the biggest Python basket of the season.
Spirou announced his presence with a sweet spinning jumper and an offensive rebound hoop to push the advantage back to 10 at 37-27.
From there, Laconia coach Chad Davis searched for a Pelham player who couldn't handle the heat.
He never found one.
The basketball thrust into his hands more than it has been all season, junior Sean Sweeney handled it with care against the now swarming Sachem guards.
At 41-38, Spirou called for the ball and got it, driving and powering for one of his two fourth-quarter hoops.
Coach Todd Kress' crew played keep-away, something the coach detests. Without Hojlo, he had to.
The Sachems resorted to fouling with little to no success.
They tried Lombard first, but he burned Laconia for 5-of-6 shooting from the charity stripe.
"I'm actually a pretty good foul shooter," said Lombard, who had missed four straight at one point in the quarterfinal win over Lebanon.
Sweeney got thumped once, and he made his pair.
And Spirou finished the deal for Pelham, which made 12 of its last 14 from the stripe, by hoisting up 5 of 6 for on his own.
Still, Laconia made it interesting.
Down five after Spirou's free throw with 16.7 seconds left, Jordan Hawthorne nailed a three to make it 56-54.
But Laconia was out of timeouts, and Pelham inbounded in traffic to Sweeney, who snatched the ball and found Hojlo at halfcourt to run out the last seconds.
"I didn't know what to think when he went down," admitted Lombard. "He's our leader. Once he went down, Stephen Spirou stepped up, I stepped up. There's no need to panic. We've been consistent all year, the whole team has. I love the big game, the big situations. I thrive off of it."
All the Pythons seemed to thrive off it.
And because of that, Pelham will play Saturday for its second state boys hoop title in four years.
Pelham 56, Laconia 54
Class I Semifinals
Laconia (54): Zach Hamel 4 0-1 11, Connor McCrea 0 0-1 0, Christian Birt 6 3-7 16, Jordan Hawthorne 2 0-0 6, Brady O'Neil 2 6-8 10, Peter Evans 3 5-10 11, Totals 17 14-26 54
Pelham (56): Sean Sweeney 1 2-2 5, Grant Hebert 1 0-0 2, Stephen Spirou 6 8-10 20, Justin Hojlo 7 2-8 20, David Wesson 0 0-0 0, E.J. Baker 0 0-0 0, Josh Boissoneault 1 0-0 2, Conor McColgan 0 0-0 0, Michael Lombard 1 5-6 7, Totals 17 17-28 56
Laconia (16-5 Class I): 6 8 16 24 — 54
Pelham (21-3, 20-1 Class I): 11 14 12 19 — 56
3-pointers: L (6-18) — Hamel 3-6, McCrea 0-1, Birt 1-4, Hawthorne 2-6, O'Neil 0-1; P (5-10) — Sweeney 1-1, Hojlo 4-9
Next game: Pelham vs. Portsmouth, at UNH, Saturday, 2:30 p.m., Class I final
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