Union Leader Athlete of the Month: Exeter's Morissette had a memorable March for Saint Anselm

If Josh Morissette closes his eyes and thinks back to that special night, he’s right back in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.

More than 1,000 fans have filed into the 1,200-seat building 30 minutes before tipoff. They erupt with the loudest cheers Morissette ever heard at a home game after he drains a 3-pointer with 5:01 left to give the Saint Anselm College men’s basketball team a 14-point lead in the Northeast 10 Championship game.

When the final buzzer sounds, the fans storm the court and the senior guard from Exeter hugs anybody who comes up to him looking for one.

The Hawks’ 75-69 victory over Saint Michael’s College to capture their 11th NE 10 title on March 7 was the highlight of a memorable March for Morissette.

“I don’t know if words can describe it,” Morissette said of the game. “It was a moment that will live in my head until I die.”

For his performance over Saint Anselm’s playoff run that ended in the NCAA Division II Sweet 16, Morissette was chosen as the March New Hampshire Union Leader Apple Therapy Services/Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center/Express MED Athlete of the Month by the Union Leader Board of Judges.

Morissette, who attended Exeter High School for two years before transferring to Phillips Exeter Academy, averaged 23.6 points and four rebounds per game over Saint Anselm’s five March playoff games.

In the NE 10 championship game, Morissette scored a month-high 28 points and grabbed six boards. Morissette was named the NE 10 Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after the game.

Saint Anselm’s victory over the Purple Knights marked its fourth in four meetings between the teams last season.

“They play a very good matchup zone and, for me, I was able to get to the middle of it in the first half and I was able to hit my outside shots,” said Morissette, who went 6-for-11 from 3-point range. “My teammates did a great job of getting into the middle of the paint and the defense collapsed a lot and I had some open looks. ...I think I shot it very well at the end of the season and, thankfully, it kept going that night and into the NCAA tournament.”

The Hawks (25-8), who also won the NE 10 regular season title, opened their NCAA tournament run by defeating conference foe Assumption 92-81 in the first round of the East Regional.

Morissette, who transferred to Saint Anselm from Division I Wofford College after his freshman year, made five of his six 3-pointer attempts as he set the Hawks’ single season 3-pointer record and finished with 24 points.

The victory was Saint Anselm’s second over three meetings with the Greyhounds.

Morissette, who went 119-for-273 (.436) from 3-point range last season, said Assumption was a tough matchup for the Hawks.

“I think every player on the team would say our biggest weakness as a team was we turned the ball over too many times,” Morissette said, “and Assumption presses the whole game. ... they’re one of the best teams in the country in causing turnovers.”

Saint Anselm, which turned the ball over 17 times, trailed the Greyhounds 43-41 at halftime but took the lead for good after Jack Medalie’s layup with 6:46 left broke a 64-64 tie.

The Hawks then avenged their loss to Felician earlier in the season by beating the Golden Falcons 99-77 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Morissette scored 23 points in the win.

In the East Regional final, Saint Anselm “ran into a buzzsaw,” Morissette said, falling to host Daemen 94-73 on March 17.

Despite outside predictions — the Hawks were picked to finish seventh in the NE 10 in the conference’s preseason coaches poll — expectations were high on campus last season, Morissette said.

With the program’s championship history, winning the NE 10 title is more of a presumption than aspiration on the Hilltop, he said.

“The expectation and buzz was we’re going to win the NE 10 and that’s what we talked about all fall,” Morissette said. “You have three goals: win the NE 10 regular season, win the NE 10 title and then win a regional and we were able to check off two of those three boxes.”

Other athletes considered for the March honor were Londonderry High School girls basketball player Sammie Sullivan, Pinkerton Academy boys basketball player Josh Phanor, Littleton High School boys basketball player Aury Perez, Derryfield School girls basketball player Anna Fazelat, Hanover High School girls hockey player Pauline Rudd, Spaulding High School boys hockey player Tyler Jean and Stanford University women’s lacrosse player Rylee Bouvier.

Sullivan, a senior, averaged 15.3 points over four playoff games as she led Londonderry to the NHIAA Division I title in March.

Phanor, a sophomore from Derry, averaged 22.7 points over Pinkerton’s three March NHIAA Division I playoff games en route to winning the division championship.

Perez, a junior, scored a team-high 17 points, including the game-winning layup, in Littleton’s 48-44 NHIAA Division IV semifinal triumph over Portsmouth Christian Academy on March 3. In Littleton’s 55-21 win over Groveton in the Division IV final on March 7, Perez scored 10 points.

Fazelat, a sophomore from Bedford, averaged 10 points, six assists, three steals and five rebounds per game while shooting 86% from the free-throw line as Derryfield won three games to capture the NHIAA Division II title in March.

Rudd, a sophomore center, scored twice in Hanover’s 4-1 semifinal win over Bishop Brady/Trinity/Bow and had a goal in the Bears’ 4-2 triumph over Oyster River/Portsmouth in the state final in March.

Jean, a senior captain, scored two goals in Spaulding’s 3-1 victory over Oyster River in the NHIAA Division II final and also scored in its 5-1 quarterfinal win over Goffstown in March.

Bouvier, a senior midfielder from Hollis, recorded eight points (seven goals, one assist), eight draw controls, 11 ground balls and caused nine turnovers over the Cardinal’s final six regular-season games in March.

Previous 2026 winners: January, Nolan Walsh, Concord (hockey); February, Caroline Harvey, Salem (hockey).