Souhegan's Joey Bernasconi came up huge on Tuesday night, scoring all 15 of his points in the second half as the Sabers eliminated Lebanon.

DURHAM — Those disputing the existence of a “good loss” might want to hit up Joey Bernasconi and the Souhegan High Sabers.

With vengeance on their minds, the No. 1 Sabers simply stifled No. 4 Lebanon in Tuesday night’s Division II state semifinal, 41-32.

“We have a little chip on our shoulder. They took away our undefeated season,” said Bernasconi of the regular season meeting – a 60-44 Lebanon win that represented the only blemish on the Sabers’ slate. “So we wanted to take away their season. I think we had an off night the last time. We had a little revenge on our minds. In the end, we just wanted it more.”

The Raiders never stood a chance, even with Souhegan muddled in an egregious offensive start.

“It was a rock fight that’s for sure. We just couldn’t score, but we were getting stops,” said coach Peter Pierce, whose Souhegan bunch will face ConVal for the Division II title Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. back here in Durham but on the campus at UNH. “We just couldn’t score, but we were getting stops.

Sometimes, that’s just what the game is like. You have two defensive-minded teams. Both of these teams can defend in the half court. It’s what we’ve done all year. That’s about the best defense we’ve faced all year. There wasn’t a lot to be had.”

The Saber defense never failed.

Brick after Souhegan brick went up in a first quarter that at times had the packed house thinking that the first team to score was going to win.

It’s a good thing that was not the case. Lebanon’s Braeden Falzarano broke the scoreless tie with just 3:40 to play in the first quarter.

It was 7-3 Lebanon after one, and the Sabers still had reason to celebrate.

The defense kept them in it until they finally encountered a little bit of rhythm in the second.

Souhegan’s Matt Canavan helped fuel the second-quarter revival, scoring all six of his points in the quarter, and Nolan Colby’s halftime-buzzer-beater made it 15-12 Sabers at the break.

At that point, Bernasconi – held scoreless through 16 minutes – had had enough.

“I’ve waited for my turn all season to help this team out,” said Bernasconi. “I wanted to step up big tonight when (Canavan) had a little bit of an off night, because they were face-guarding him.”

The 5-foot-7 junior splashed a mid-ranger jumper for his first points of the night to bump the Saber margin to 21-12 in the third. He got going off the dribble, and his teammates fell right in line.

The lead was 25-19 after three quarters, and Lebanon just kept swinging. The Raiders, who finish out at 17-4, closed to within three at 33-30 with 1:30 left on Jackson Stone’s long-range bomb.

But Souhegan had the answer over the final 90 seconds.

Some solid foul-shooting didn’t hurt either. The Sabers closed out with 8 of 12 from the line to ice it.

“I have to give Lebanon credit, they’re a great defensive team. They’re big, they’re tough,” said Bernasconi. “We started to get them tired. We worked the ball around, we ran our offense, and they started to break down. That’s where we found our buckets.”

Bernasconi finished with a game-high 15 points, again all coming in the second half.

“(Getting the ball into Bernasconi’s hands more) might have been Joey’s idea,” laughed coach Pierce. “He’s a warrior. He’s an absolute warrior.”

Johnny McBride added eight points and seven rebounds, despite enduring some serious foul trouble. Colby finished with five for the Sabers, who knocked off ConVal back in mid-January.

“It’s amazing, it’s out of this world,” said Bernasconi of Souhegan’s fourth trip to the state hoop title game and the first since 2013. “I never even thought of it. We came into this year ranked 17th (in Division II). It’s been our goal the whole season to just prove everybody wrong.

“We want to take it home for our fans. They gave us the energy we needed to win this game. It was a grind-it-out game. They gave us energy, and that was a deciding factor.”