DURHAM, N.H. — His right wrist throbbing, his second state title slipping away, Justin Hojlo went down firing, like the champion he is.
The final 46:07 of his Pelham High career had little to do with fairy tales. There was no dream ending, no ride off into the sunset — only a test of his will, which Hojlo, for the last time as a Python, passed with flying colors.
He went 31-plus of the 32 minutes, scored a season-low 10 points on 3 of 16 shooting and still helped to have his basketball team in a position to lock down a state title.
Courage can't be found on a stat sheet.
"Adrenaline took over, but it definitely bothered me on the deep shots," said Hojlo, the second leading scorer in area history, behind only Andover's Chris Vetrano. "I wanted to go out with a bang, it just stinks that this happened my senior year."
Hojlo's final game, a painful 61-48 Class I state title loss to Portsmouth, ends an era for Todd Kress, a brilliant six-year run (125-21) with a state title and three other finals appearances to boot.
"I'm certainly never going to forget the Hojlo family," said Kress. "Frankie (star point guard on the 2006 championship team) was kind of a little brother to me, and Justin's been like a son. That's how I feel about them, and that era now comes to a close."
Hojlo and Pelham learned a valuable lesson about adversity over the last four days, starting with Wednesday's state semifinal win over Laconia.
The elevation of their games around their injured hero, even in defeat, has been commendable.
But how do you say goodbye to a Justin Hojlo?
A sure-to-be three-time Eagle-Tribune All-Star with a school-best 1,810 points, Hojlo leaves a legacy for this small town of 12,504 and the entire region to admire.
A JV callup midway through his freshman year, the 5-10 Hojlo's dynamic talents were evident from the first varsity drive.
As gritty, as his big brother Frank was, Justin was special.
He inherited the "franchise" tag when James Roman graduated back in 2006. And Hojlo, from his first start to his last, never ducked the spotlight.
At times this year, he put a young group on his back. Eleven times he scored 30 or more points, with a high of 41 in a five-point victory over Souhegan.
All the while, Hojlo nurtured.
You just don't see many 34-point, eight-assist nights in New Hampshire high school basketball. That was a regular occurrence for the prized Plymouth State recruit.
Last night, unable to shoot comfortably due to his heavily taped right hand (the one jumper he hit rattled on the rim and backboard for an eternity), Hojlo understood the only road to victory was paved in the paint, with the sophomore big guys Stephen Spirou and Michael Lombard.
"He definitely was limited in what he could do, that's obvious," said Kress. "He didn't have much feel in that right hand at all. I thought in the second half he just did a great job of involving other guys on the court. He got Spirou going."
"At the same time, I thought he was fantastic defensively all night long, playing the full 32 minutes dogging their point guard all over the court."
Hojlo's assist on a Spirou 3-point play gave Pelham a 35-34 lead with 1:04 left in the third.
Unfortunately, the storybook finish never came. Portsmouth spoiled the afternoon with some clutch shooting by John Mulvey (26 points) and a ferocious fourth quarter.
Still, defeat can't detract from the Hojlo legend.
"It seems like just yesterday I was here, winning it with my brother and James Roman and all them," Hojlo reminisced, holding that right thumb that was clearly still tender. "It was a special four years, the style of play just made it so much more exciting. Great coaches, great teammates. It was great just getting here. I was hoping we could have gotten over that hump."
Hector Longo is an Eagle-Tribune sportswriter. E-mail him at hlongo@eagletribune.com
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