Souhegan's Keegan Burke has his shot attempt bothered by Lebanon's Braeden Falzarano during Monday night's game in Amherst. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

AMHERST – The Lebanon High School boys basketball teams’s house call Monday night was just what the doctor ordered for the Souhegan Sabers.

At least that’s how Sabers coach Peter Pierce sees it after the Raiders knocked Souhegan off its unbeaten perch with a 60-44 win.

“This is going to pay off for us in the long run,” Pierce said. “It really is. They hadn’t been challenged enough all year, and this is exactly what they neede to see. A lot of these guys have never seen tournament basketball, right? And there were a lot of parts of this game that resembled tournament basketball.”

It’s just that Pierce doesn’t want a tournament game to end up this way. The 12-1 Sabers, especially in the second half, had shooting woes. They jumped out to a 10-5 lead but found themselves down 14-12 after one, then 30-20 at the half and couldn’t cut into the 10-1 Raiders lead going into the fourth quarter, down 41-31.

“I don’t know if there was a single facet of the game we didn’t get outplayed in. They were stronger, they were quicker, they were more aggressive. … If we had played a little bit better in the first half might have been tough coming down the stretch. But we didn’t.”

Souhegan never got into its game, as 6-8 center John McBride was held to just four points before fouling out. The Raiders got their offense from Nolan Colby (13 points) and Colin Burke (12). But it wasn’t nearly enough to match the one-two punch of Lebanon’s Braeden Falzarano (23 points) and Nathan Colby (21) as they slice and diced their way to the hoop, While also putting up five 3-pointers between them. Colby made his mark at the end of the first half with a traditional three-point play off a steal in the final two seconds.

“We anticipated a really good game,” Lebanon coach Kieth Matte said. “They’re a good team, we pulled away in the end, made some free throws. … Our effort was great tonight. … It was a great atmosphere, tough place to play, and Pete’s a really good coach.”

The defense that the Raiders played, especially in shutting down McBride with Jackson Stone, was noticeable.

“It sometimes goes unnoticed how good a player Jackson Stone is,” Matte said. “We hang our hat on defense, and we definitely guarded tonight. They’re a good offensive team, and to hold them to 44 is a pretty good outcome.”

The Sabers were hanging around, down nine with just under three minutes to play, when Colby went to the hoop and got another traditional three-point play. A technical was also assessed, it turned into a five-point play, 52-38, that, as Pierce said, “sealed the game.”

And now the Sabers go from the frying pan into the fire. Last night’s loss ruined what was expected to be a battle of unbeatens in Pelham on Wednesday. And they host another Division II contender, Pembroke, on Friday.

“We’re going uphill from here,” Pierce said. “This team needs to grow. This is going to help us.”

That’s what house calls are for, as unpleasant as they can sometimes be.

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