BOW, N.H. — The chemistry between Kearsarge’s guards is undeniable. When you’ve been playing together your whole life, the connection looks easy.

The Whipple brothers, senior Noah and sophomore Eli, put on a clinic with Eli scoring a game-high 24 points and Noah (10 points, six assists, four rebounds, three steals) doing anything else that was needed to lift the No. 3 Kearsarge boys basketball team to a 52-33 victory over No. 2 Mascoma in Wednesday night’s NHIAA Division III semifinal at Bow High School.

The Cougars (19-2) will play top-seeded Belmont in Saturday’s D-III championship game at Keene State College.

Kearsarge took control of the game from the outset, with Eli scoring 15 points in the first quarter to give the Cougars a 22-9 lead. He connected on three 3-pointers in the first period and drilled another in the second, while Noah hit a three of his own and dished all six of his assists in the first half — five of them to his younger brother. 

Eli’s 20 points and Noah’s nine provided all of Kearsarge’s first-half scoring, giving the Cougars a 29-17 halftime lead.

“We dictated the tempo,” said Kearsarge head coach Nate Camp, the former Lebanon High and Colby-Sawyer College guard. “Especially early, we had some good looks out of our offense and also in transition, and then we were able to force (Mascoma) into making some decisions they didn’t necessarily want to make. Credit to our guys; they handled the pressure pretty nicely.”

Senior guard Tanner Moulton (14 points, nine rebounds), junior guard Bryce Ballou (nine points, three rebounds, two assists) and junior center Colin Myers (six rebounds, four points) played well in spurts for Mascoma (18-2), but the Royals couldn’t sustain any momentum on offense.

Mascoma coach Silas Ayres also credited the play of senior Brody Goulette on defense and the glass on an otherwise off night for the Royals’ attack.

“Mascoma picked a bad night to go cold,” Ayres said. “We missed 10 layups and went 1-for-17 from (3-point territory). Proud of the kids for fighting hard until the end.”

The Whipple connection certainly helped Kearsarge’s cause.

“It’s great being able to play with (Eli) in general after all those hours in the yard with our dad and playing one-v-one and going back and forth with each other,” Noah said. “Going into halftime with that lead, we had to come out of it saying, ‘It’s still 0-0 and we’ve still got another half to complete.’ ”

Noah took an elbow to the head early in the second quarter last Friday and didn’t play for the remainder of Kearsarge’s 48-45 double-overtime quarterfinal thriller of a victory over Gilford, but he was on the floor for about 30 of 32 minutes in Tuesday’s semifinal. He faced double teams, saw face guarding and received plenty of contact all game long, but he won the majority of those physical battles.

“Tanner (Moulton) and Bryce (Ballou) are two phenomenal guards, especially defensively,” Noah said. “We knew they’re going to be physical; they’re going to be fast. I personally love that (style); I’m all for getting dirty. They played well, but we had other guys that could make shots tonight.”

Camp said Noah Whipple came up big when the Cougars needed him.

“We weren't sure what we were going to get out of him tonight, but he felt good,” Camp said. “You want your team to be whole. It was nice to see him out there tonight. He keeps us calm, he gets us into our offense and makes the right reads. He makes everyone around him better.”

While the Whipple brothers and senior guard Austin Needham (eight points, all of them in the third quarter) supplied nearly all of Kearsarge’s offense, it was a complete team effort on the defensive end.

Eli (five rebounds, three assists), Needham (four rebounds, four assists), senior guard Ajay Tremblay (seven rebounds, five points, two assists) and junior forward Bragen Kinzer (two rebounds) did an excellent job rebounding and matching up with Mascoma’s height advantage in the paint.

The Cougars led 41-26 heading into the fourth quarter and held the Royals to just one field goal over the final five minutes of the game.

Mascoma loses Moulton, Goulette and guard Marshall Yorke to graduation.