Lebanon -- If beating an archrival provides a psychological lift, consider last night's 52-41 win over Hanover a successful early-season session of therapy for the Lebanon High boys basketball team.

Boasting huge advantages in shooting percentage (44-29) and rebounding (39-15), the Raiders snapped a five-game losing streak against their crosstown nemesis with their first win the series in exactly three years.

The Raiders last edged the Marauders on Jan. 3, 2006, in the Wechsler Cup at Dartmouth College. In between, Hanover went 49-18 and went to the Class I final twice, winning in 2007, while the Raiders lost three straight times in the first round of the playoffs.

“It wasn't just that they were beating us all the time, they were beating everybody,” Lebanon coach Kieth Matte said of the Marauders.

“We weren't beating them at any level -- junior high, jayvee, you name it. And Hanover's been dominant in a lot of other sports that my guys play, too, so I'm especially happy for them for this win.”

Zach Silver scored a career-high 21 points -- more than the senior guard dropped all of last season -- and Jake Woodward and Joe LaBombard had 10 rebounds each as the Raiders (4-1 overall, 2-0 New Hampshire Class I) stayed unbeaten in league play. The Marauders (3-2, 1-2) lost for the first time since opening night three weeks ago at Pembroke.

Lebanon -- which started five players taller than 6 feet, compared with one for Hanover -- used its height advantage to smother Marauder shooters and move around the visitors' aggressive zone defense.

Forced to counteract man-to-man defense throughout last season because of a prolific array of outside shooters who've since graduated, the Raiders employed an unfamiliar zone-oriented offense last night that was especially fruitful in the second half, when Lebanon shot 13-for-27 (.481) and pulled down 12 offensive rebounds. Hanover had just seven total rebounds in the final two periods and just five offensive boards for the game.

“Lebanon shot really well and controlled the glass,” Hanover coach Tim Winslow said. “They had something like six offensive rebounds just on missed free throws in the third quarter. That's kind of been our Achilles heel this year, when we give up a lot of rebounds.”

Leading by one at halftime, Lebanon opened the third quarter on a 16-6 run, securing the first double-digit lead of the night by either team when LaBombard (eight points) sank the first of his two second-half offensive putbacks to make it 36-25. Silver, who hit four of Lebanon's seven 3-pointers, sank a pair during the spurt as Lebanon executed timely ball movement and well-placed screens to set up open shots.

Most importantly, the Raiders' shooting was accurate.

“We did a good job executing the offense, but it wouldn't have helped us much if we weren't shooting the ball well,” Silver said. “But we did a good job of finding the gaps and getting open looks.”

The shots didn't fall as easily for the Raiders in the first half, even after jumping out to an 11-4 lead. Hanover went on an 11-0 run featuring a 3-pointer from Sam Carney (14 points) and two from Sam Gest (eight points) to give Hanover a 15-14 advantage.

Brad Maxfield's putback three minutes into the second quarter gave the Raiders their first points since the 1:59 mark of the first, and Lebanon never trailed after Silver's trey made it 18-17 with 3:25 left in the second quarter.

Threatening to derail Lebanon's second-half joyride was the potential for foul trouble -- Silver got his fourth personal and the team's sixth of the half at the end of the third quarter.

But after Hanover's Hayden Pressey-Murray hit one of two free throws to cut Lebanon's lead to 37-30 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Raiders didn't send Hanover back to the line again until the final minutes.

Lebanon put the game away in the interim with another offensive putback by LaBombard, a Silver kisser off the glass following a steal by point guard Dillon McCarthy (eight points) and Woodward's airborne putback that made it 48-34 with two minutes to play.

“I think we're an emotional team, and the way we came out swinging in both halves I think really gave us a lift,” Silver said. “The guys on our team don't have a lot of varsity minutes from previous seasons, but we had a great group of seniors last year that gave us all we could handle in practice.”

As school vacation comes to an end and classes start again tomorrow for both schools, the Raiders and Marauders will try to move on from the intensity of last night's game in time for challenging Class I schedules that continue Tuesday. Lebanon takes on unbeaten Pembroke at home and Hanover hosts Bishop Brady.

“The players are going to be heroes on Monday when they come back to school, but hopefully we'll be back down to earth by then,” Matte said.