Union Leader Athlete of the Month: Marshall scored from inside, outside during Pinkerton's title run

Apr. 17—Players like Jackson Marshall do not come around often, Pinkerton Academy boys basketball coach Mike Dunham said this past season.

The first-year Astros head coach was referring to Marshall's ability as a stretch-five center, meaning he can draw the opposing center out and create more space near the basket.

Regardless of position, scorers like Marshall are just as rare.

The Hooksett resident averaged 37 points per game over the Astros' three-game playoff run to the NHIAA Division I championship last month, earning him the March New Hampshire Union Leader Apple Therapy Services/Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center/Express MED Athlete of the Month award from the Union Leader Board of Judges.

"He can really shoot and he's a competitor," Dunham told the Union Leader early in the season.

Marshall, a senior who is committed to Southern New Hampshire University for baseball, opened the Division I tournament with a month-high 41 points, including the 2,000th of his career, in Pinkerton's 101-83 quarterfinal win over Nashua South on March 2.

Marshall is the second player in New Hampshire Division I high school boys basketball history to reach the 2,000-point mark. The other is Concord High School alum Matt Bonner, who won two NBA championships with the San Antonio Spurs

Marshall, the Division I Player of the Year, then posted double-double performances over the top-seeded Astros' next two games — a game-high 39 points and 11 rebounds in a 82-71 semifinal victory over fifth-seeded Trinity on March 6 and a game-high 31 points alongside 14 boards in their 90-76 triumph over No. 3 seed Nashua North on March 10.

Pinkerton finished the season with a 20-1 record en route to winning its first Division I title since 2010 and fourth overall.

Marshall, who is 6 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs 260 pounds, spent the Division I championship battling fellow big man Robinson Rodriguez, a 6-foot-6 junior center for North who made the Division I All-Defensive Team.

"It's a really good matchup," Rodriguez said after the Titans' 84-69 semifinal win over second-seeded Bedford. "He's obviously bigger, stronger. He can shoot the ball, so we'll have to prepare for him and see if we can slow him down down low."

When considering Marshall's usual scoring outputs, North contained him for the first half of the final. Marshall was 4 of 17 from the floor and had 14 points at halftime, when the Astros trailed, 43-38.

Marshall helped the Astros produce a 13-0 run in the third quarter and they took a 67-61 advantage into the final eight minutes.

"(Marshall) is tough to match up with," North coach Steve Lane said after the title game. "He's impossible to guard when he gets it a couple feet from the basket."

Other athletes considered for the March honor were Bedford High School girls basketball player Lana McCarthy, Concord Christian Academy girls basketball player Lilli Carlile, Bedford High School indoor track athlete Jacob Redman, Kennett High School Alpine skier Allie Hussey, Colgate University men's lacrosse player Hunter Drouin and University of Wisconsin women's hockey player Caroline Harvey.

McCarthy, a senior who is committed to Purdue University, averaged 17 points, 11.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists per game and totaled six steals and three blocks over unbeaten Bedford's three-game playoff run to the NHIAA Division I championship last month.

Carlile, a junior guard from Hudson, averaged 22 points, 3.3 assists, eight rebounds and 2.7 steals over Concord Christian's three-game March postseason run to the NHIAA Division II title.

Redman, a senior, won the boys 1,000-meter run with his time of 2 minutes, 27.2 seconds and helped Bedford take third place in the 4-by-800-meter relay at the New England High School Indoor Track and Field Championships in Boston on March 2.

Hussey, a senior, won the girls giant slalom race at the Eastern High School Championships on March 9 at Attitash Mountain Resort with her time of 1:32.66.

Drouin, a sophomore midfielder from Derry, recorded 12 goals and five assists over a 3-1 March campaign for Division I Colgate.

Harvey, a sophomore defender who lived in both Salem and Pelham growing up, logged three assists over Division I Wisconsin's eight NCAA playoff games that ended with a 1-0 loss to Ohio State University in the national championship game on March 24 at UNH's Whittemore Center.

Previous 2024 winners: January, Zach James, Pelham (basketball); February, Anika Scott, Bedford (indoor track).

To submit a nomination for future Athlete of the Month consideration, email the Union Leader Sports Department at sports@unionleader.com and enter "Athlete of the Month" in the subject line.