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| By Eliot Bless, Posted 03-13-2010 | ||
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| Fri 03-12-2010 | Score |
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| Portsmouth | 55 |
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| Bedford | 48 |
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If you ask any coach what there most valuable asset is come playoff time, you'll get the same answer virtually every time, senior leadership. Friday night's Quarterfinal matchup between the 4th ranked Clippers of Portsmouth and 12th seeded Bulldogs of Bedford pitted two Senior laden squads against one another vying for a trip to UNH and the Class I Semifinals.
Barton would call upon his Sophomore teammate Kyle DiCesare as he hit a 3 from the top of the key and then went down low with a slick drop step to score at the rim closing the gap to 22-20.
Eliot Bless is a basketball writer for NHsportspage and can be read on his high school basketball forum at
In the end, after 4 quarters of a hard fought defensive battle, Senior Players Lounge Member Mike Barton and the Clippers emerged 55-48 in front of a packed Stone Gymnasium in Portsmouth, NH.
Barton was the catalyst early, finishing in the lane over Bulldog Senior Tyler Webber, and connecting on a running hook from 8' out to put the Clippers up 4-0. Bedford Forward Joseph Maher answered back to tie the game, but with the rest of the Portsmouth team struggling offensively, Barton took it upon himself to again penetrate the lane and finish at the rim for 2 more of his game high 14 points.
But this game was far from over in the first 2 minutes. Bedfords "BC" or flex offense paid dividends immediately. The back screening and baseline cuts allowed Maher and Senior Tyler Weber to control the paint for the majority of the first quarter to the tune of 10 combined points. Barton's rebound and put back off a missed free throw brought the Clippers within one at 12-11 with just under a minute to play.
With 50 seconds to play Seniors Weber (14 points) and Mike Marinelli (8 points) would lead the Bulldogs on a 8-0 run, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer set up by a Marinelli feed to the corner on the break in the final seconds.
Entering the second quarter down 20-11, Portsmouth needed to make a move to keep it within striking distance.
Weber and Marinelli again hooked up on the break as Marinelli knifed a bounce pass through two Portsmouth defenders to hit Weber in stride for layup. Sophomore guard Billy Lane for the Clippers hit a 19' jumper on the clear-out but the next trip down the court Weber would return the favor to Marinelli and feed him in the post for a leaning finish off the glass to give Bedford a 29-26 lead with 2 and a half minutes to go in the half.
As time wound down Marinelli split the defense of Barton and Riley McCarthy and was able to get a floater off, again, at the buzzer to put Bedford up 33-28 at the half. While the Clippers were able to close the gap to just 5, the Bulldogs had proven that they were able to pound the paint, and penetrate the lane to get good looks at the rim for most of the first half.
Coming out of the locker-room it wasn't a question of whether Clipper skipper John Mulvey was going to make adjustments, just which ones exactly. Offensively out of the gate they went right to their bread and butter, as Barton dribbled at DiCesare and his defender just as DiCesare executed a perfectly timed backdoor cut for a layup.
Portsmouth immediately fell back into a 2/3 zone, and would continue to shift defensive schemes as they also showed a 1-3-1 strategy. The approach paid off to the tune of 7 forced turnovers in the 3rd quarter and only 6 points given up. "The zone came out in the second half, and it was really good. We practiced it all week just in case we needed it, and we did" said Mulvey in response to the Clippers execution of his halftime orders.
In-between defensive stops it was time for another Clipper Senior to step up. Enter Nate Jones who on back-to-back possessions hit 3 pointers from the same left side of the floor. "Nate Jones had the best game of his career. He was spectacular hitting those 2 threes on back-to-back plays where we called the same play" said Mulvey of his Senior point guard. He would finish the night with 13 big points from a guy that normally isn't their number 2 guy in the points column.
Portsmouth had regained the lead and the momentum and now led after 3 periods, 42-39.
Starting the 4th it was evident the Clippers were going to lean on their Senior playmaker Barton. A layup fading to his right in the lane and a backdoor cut gave Barton 4 more points and helped Portsmouth maintain a 3-point lead.
Bedford was not going away though, with Weber in a bit of foul trouble, Maher took over the offensive aggressiveness scoring on the break and hitting the accompanying foul shot. Marinelli then nailed a 3 pointer to tie the game at 46 halfway through the 4th.
With the game tied, and Portsmouth happy to sit in there 1-3-1 zone, Bedford coach Joe Kegler chose to dribble out the clock for the next minute or so. The Clippers defense extended just enough to allow Marinelli to drive and put up a off balance shot, which was then rebounded on the weak side by Maher and put in for 2 of his 11 points. Bedford had regained the lead, however so briefly.
20 seconds later DiCesare, who's no stranger to big-time shots (remember that 3-pointer from the corner he hit in last years semifinal against Pembroke?), spotted up and buried a 3 from the top of the key. Mulvey switched his kids back into a man defense, and the Bulldogs would not hit a shot for the remainder of the game. The Portsmouth second half adjustments had forced 10 Bedford turnovers, while only giving the ball up 3 times themselves.
Quality foul shooting and a couple of smart plays by Barton to get his teammates easy lay-ups would create the final margin of 55-48 as the Clippers earned a berth in the Class I Semifinals Tuesday evening vs. Milford.
Bedford put forth a valiant effort, leading this game and controlling it for much of the first half and taking a brief lead with lest than 4 to play. This team was right there this year with big wins and a few tough losses along the way. They're losing some Seniors but have a good core of young players and a talented JV team that should replenish the ranks.
This team does the little things; they shot better than 80% from the free throw line for the game and never gave up on a play. "We've made a lot of strides. The kids put a lot of time in during practice and I think we understand if we do the little things like hit free throws we'll have success" said Bedford's Kegler.
Kegler didn't have any regrets to the approach, but credited the Portsmouth kids and coaches for executing, "We wanted to pull them out of the zone and spread them out so we could run our flex offense, but a couple of plays just didn't go our way and their kids hit some spectacular shots".
Mulvey gleamed talking about his Senior leader, "We had some funky lineups in the second half because of foul trouble, but Mike Barton holds us together no matter who's out there, he's a gamer". Mulvey went on to say, "You go as far as your Seniors go in this tournament, and I thought our Seniors were unbelievable."
After the game, it was evident that Seniors Barton and Mike Montville (11 points) were on cloud nine, "It feels a little more special this year going back as a Senior, it's awesome" said Barton. Montville commented "I can't wait to get there we packed the place last year and hope to do it again this year". With a matchup looming against #1 seeded Milford there will be plenty of fans and the gym will be rocking for the 7:30pm tip.
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