KEENE – In the final game of a championship-or-bust season, the Belmont High boys’ basketball team busted out its best moves. Crashing the boards for offensive rebounds and putbacks. Scoring fast-break points. And, while the game was tightening up down the stretch, maintaining composure.

The top-seeded Red Raiders played to their strengths to build an 11-point halftime lead and held off a second-half comeback by No. 3 Kearsarge to win the school’s first boys’ basketball title, 49-43, in the Division III championship at Keene State College’s Spaulding Gymnasium on Saturday night.

Junior point guard Treshawn Ray had 15 points and five assists and 6-foot-5 senior center Keegan Martinez (15 points, 17 rebounds, two blocks) and 6-6 senior forward Anakin Underhill (12 points, 10 rebounds) both had double-doubles to power the Raiders.

Belmont’s big three, who also served as the team’s captains, present a unique and rare combination of size, skill, speed and versatility that the Raiders (20-1) haven’t seen in decades. Belmont’s last championship game appearance came in 1970.

They put all those attributes on display early.

Kearsarge (19-3) led 7-5 with 3:45 left in the first quarter, its first and only lead of the game. Ray responded by pushing the tempo, slicing through the Cougars’ defense and attacking the rim, scoring two quick buckets to regain the lead for Belmont. He then connected on a free throw after drawing a foul.

“All season long, (Ray’s) finishing ability was so dominant,” Belmont coach Tony Martinez said. “We always said that we were one guard away, with our size, to really take that next step. With him, it adds so much.

“You can never sit back. You have to play defense, but he can break things down. Having him has been really special. He’s made me a better coach.”

Senior guard Brady Thurber joined Martinez, Underhill and sophomore guard Brody Ennis (four points, five rebounds, two blocks) in draining 3-pointers in the first half, giving Belmont a 17-11 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 30-19 lead at halftime.

Ray scored the first basket of the third quarter to make it 32-19, Belmont’s biggest lead of the night, before the Cougars closed the gap.

Kearsarge senior guard Noah Whipple (nine points, two rebounds, two assists, steal) made a free throw before fellow senior guard Ajay Tremblay (four points, five rebounds, three steals) started a momentum-changing sequence, stealing the ball from Ray, going on a fast break, scoring the layup and drawing a foul.

Tremblay missed the free throw, but junior Bragen Kinzer grabbed the offensive rebound and scored a bucket to cut Belmont’s lead to 32-24.

Despite having a disadvantage in height and getting outplayed on the boards (Belmont held a 35-22 rebounding edge), the Cougars forced more turnovers and won the majority of 50-50 balls through grit, scrappy play and determination.

“We talked at halftime about making adjustments and getting the game a little more up-tempo, a little more our style,” Kearsarge coach Nate Camp said. “We got some stops and some steals. Once we did that in the third quarter, you could see the momentum shift.

“In a game like this, it’s all about momentum. Our guys, they’ll never quit. … We’ve talked all season about brotherhood. I saw it in their eyes; they were ready for a comeback.”

Sophomore guard Eli Whipple (15 points, six rebounds, two steals) combined with older brother Noah for 10 of the Cougars’ 14 points in the third quarter, trimming the Raiders’ lead to 40-33 heading into the fourth.

Eli Whipple scored a fastbreak bucket to open the final frame, which was set up thanks to a steal by Noah, and baskets by Eli, Tremblay and senior guard Austin Needham (seven points, five rebounds) cut Belmont’s lead to 44-41 with 2:35 left in the game.

The Raiders went 1-for-8 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter but otherwise took care of the basketball to burn clock time. Underhill and Martinez had some key putbacks in the closing two minutes to secure the championship victory.

“Rebounding was the key; also our composure. We stayed fairly composed,” coach Martinez said. “We made some mistakes, because we haven’t seen (close games) a lot, but we stayed composed enough to execute down the stretch.

“I’m an old-school coach,” coach Martinez added. “When you have the size, you try to go with what your strength is. (Keegan and Anakin) all year battled inside. (They) didn’t get a lot of credit for how good of a player they actually are, because (high school basketball) is a perimeter game. You don’t see many kids battling inside anymore. Everything is off the dribble or shooting, but you can see that there is still a place for it and it still works if you can run it right.”

Underhill also did an especially good job in the final few minutes of the game managing the floor, reminding his teammates that they were OK and slowing the pace down.

“We knew that we were facing a tough opponent; we knew they weren’t going to hand it to us,” Underhill said. “These guys are like a family to me. We all play for each other, and it was really exciting to see everyone stick together through thick and thin.

“We wanted it bad. Last year we got a (quarterfinal exit). We wanted it more. We’ve worked so hard since summertime.”

The Raiders certainly showed how badly they wanted to win, filling whatever role was needed in order to win. Big men Underhill and Martinez hit threes. Martinez, the team’s leading scorer, led the Raiders in assists. Ennis and Thurber played their roles very well, especially on the defensive end, and senior Michael Collette and junior Wyatt Carroll played well off the bench.

“They genuinely care about each other,” coach Martinez said. “They’re friends off the court. They’ve played together for so long and done so much that they wanted to end it on a high note.

“I’ve got a lot of guys who are graduating who are going to trade school and things like that. They accepted the fact that this is probably the last time they were going to put on a competitive basketball uniform, and they adopted that and wanted to go all out and end it in the best possible way. For a lot of our guys, there’s no tomorrow. We talked about winning the 50-50 game. Get that bruise, get that floor burn; it will feel a lot better if you win.”

For the Cougars, an appearance in the championship game completed a nice story arc for a class of players that has helped revitalize Kearsarge’s program. The Cougars went 4-14 two years ago, lost in the semifinals last year and played in this year’s final as the underdogs, staying in the game until the closing seconds.

“They’ve been bought in since the end of last season, knowing we were coming in with a good group. They’d go through a brick wall for our program,” Camp said.

“The seniors, the five of them (Noah Rubenberg, Liam Miller, Needham, Tremblay and Noah Whipple), they’ve been an honor to coach. Those guys, they have the will, they set the tone from the beginning of the season, and the others hopped on board.”