Boys Basketball Roundup: Bedford comes back to knock off Trinity in overtime

The first half of Sunday’s Division I boys basketball quarterfinal probably could have gone worse for the Bedford High School boys basketball team, but not by much.

The Bulldogs trailed Trinity by as many as 18 points, as the Pioneers hit eight 3-pointers in the opening two quarters and Bedford got into some foul trouble.

But at halftime, the top-seeded Bulldogs regrouped behind its seniors’ encouragement, and came back to knock off the No. 8 Pioneers 93-91 in overtime. The win puts Bedford in the semifinals, where it will face No. 4 Nashua South at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Exeter High School.

Luke Soden led the way with 42 points for the Bulldogs (18-1), 21 in each half, while Aiden O’Connell had all but two of his 34 points after halftime. Sean Toscano added eight points, with two 3s, for Bedford, which had eight 3-pointers and was 17 of 29 at the free throw line, but was outdone in both areas by Trinity (12-8).

The Pioneers hit 14 3s and went 17 of 21 at the line, led by Tyler Bike, who finished with 39 points, including seven 3s and a perfect 10 for 10 at the line. DeVohnn Ellis added 16 points while Kevin Dougherty and Shawn O’Neil were also in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

“Kind of at a loss for words,” Bedford coach Frank Moreno said to the Friday Night Lights Media crew after the game. “The first half was our worst nightmare. Nothing was going right and they were hitting everything. Tyler (Bike) was just … we knew he was going to get his and the goal was to contain everyone else. They really were hitting shots early. We clawed back a little bit.”

Bike hit five 3s in the first quarter as Trinity led 29-17 after one, and after a 3 by Soden to open the second made it a nine-point game, the Pioneers went on a 13-4 run to go up 42-24 with 3:20 left in the first half.

Bedford closed the half with a run of its own, outscoring Trinity 11-3 the rest of the way to make it a 10-point game at halftime.

With 10 minutes to figure out how to save the season, the Bulldogs’ seniors, led by Sean Toscano, Dylan Lafferty and Caden Brown, stepped up.

“Let’s keep fighting, keep chipping away,” Moreno said of the message. “We said it in timeouts, we said it between quarters. Sean is a good calming presence when things get crazy.

“We told the guys at halftime, we’ve been in this situation before. We were down against South and were able to come back and win. They just fought and clawed.”

It was still a 14-point lead for Trinity when Dougherty hit a 3 with 4:43 to play in the third quarter, but O’Connell responded with a three-point play at the other end. That started a 12-0 run for Bedford that saw it cut the lead to just two points, 55-53, with 1:29 to go until the fourth.

The Pioneers were able to keep the lead at four points going into the fourth and a basket by Ellis made it 62-56 less than a minute into the frame. But another three-point play by O’Connell and a 3-pointer by Soden tied the game at 62, and after another basket by Ellis, O’Connell converted another and-1 to give the Bulldogs a 65-64 lead.

Bedford kept the momentum, going up as many as five points, but Trinity wasn’t done. Free throws from Ellis and Bike tied the game at 77 with under two minutes to play, and after O’Connell put the Bulldogs up two in the final minute, Bike answered to tie it again.

With 24.3 seconds left, Bedford took a timeout to try to set up a final play for the win, but Trinity’s defense kept the ball away from Soden and O’Connell. The Pioneers ended up fouling Bedford’s Thomas Brage with 2.4 seconds left, sending the junior to the line for a chance to the win the game.

But both of his free throws were off the mark and the game went to overtime.

Trinity opened the extra session with an 8-4 run to take an 87-83 lead, but Bedford came back with a 7-0 run to go up 92-89 on two free throws by Soden with 22.7 seconds left. Ellis scored to make it a one-point game, but then fouled out, sending O’Connell to the line with 8.8 to play.

The senior missed the first free throw but made the second to give Bedford a two-point lead, giving Trinity a chance for the win. Bike was unable to get open for a shot and gave the ball to Jaiden Summers, but his 3-point attempt was off the mark just before the buzzer.

The game set a couple of NHIAA tournament records, as the 14 3-pointers made by Trinity beat the previous record of 13, set by the Pioneers in 2004 and 2005. Trinity also tied the record for most points by a losing team in a tournament game, matching the mark set by Manchester Memorial in 2014.

Soden came up four points shy of tying the record for most points in a tournament game, while Bike was two 3s short of the record for a tournament game.

No. 3 Nashua North 58, No. 6 Exeter 55

The Titans did just enough to overcome a horrendous day at the free throw line to beat the Blue Hawks and return to the semifinals for the second year in a row.

North (19-1) shot 49 percent from the free throw line, connecting on just 20 of its 41 attempts, but made enough of them down the stretch to thwart Exeter’s last-second heroics.

Parth Miglani led the Titans with 16 points, as he was 8 of 9 at the line to go with two 3-pointers. Jayden Montgomery and Jack Sullivan each added 10 points, but those two, along with Jack Peters, combined to go 3 of 21 from the foul line.

Ryan Luper had a game-high 21 points for Exeter (14-6), going 8 of 8 at the line with three 3-pointers, including two in the final seconds that made it a one-point game. Evan Pafford added 16 points, shooting 7 of 7 at the foul line, as the Blue Hawks were 20 of 24 (83 percent) on foul shots.

Every time it looked like North was going to pull away, the Titans would go cold and Exeter would climb back into the game. North scored just one point over an almost eight-minute stretch, as the Blue Hawks tied the game at 30 late in the third.

It was 34-32 Titans going into the fourth and North opened the frame with an 11-3 run to take a 45-35 lead.

But Exeter wasn’t done, and North’s struggles at the line kept the door open until the final minute, when Miglani and Adrian Lazo combined to go 7 of 8 to make it 56-49 with 21 seconds left.

Luper hit a 3 with eight second to go, but the Titans lost the ball, and Luper hit another 3 with about four seconds left to make it 56-55. With no way to stop the clock, Exeter coach Jeff Holmes called a timeout he didn’t have, getting a technical foul and sending Miglani to the free throw line.

The sophomore made both to help the Titans hang on for the win. North moves on to face No. 2 Pinkerton in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Exeter.

No. 4 Nashua South 48, No. 5 Bishop Guertin 45

Zach Castonguay scored 10 of his game-high 18 points in the first quarter to help lead the Panthers to the win over the Cardinals, sending South to the semifinals for the first time since 2013.

Josh Caruso added 16 points, including four 3-pointers, as the Panthers (16-4) took the lead early and never gave it up. Bishop Guertin (14-6) got within a point late in the third quarter and had the chance to take the lead, but couldn’t.

Javari Ellison led the Cardinals with 17 points, 11 in the second half, but no one else was in double figures. Luke Anderson finished with seven points and Matt Santosuosso had just three.

South got off to a strong start, shooting 7 of 12 from the field in the first quarter to take a 14-6 lead after one. The Cardinals were able to close the gap to two points going into halftime, but the Panthers opened the third with a 10-4 run to go up 36-28.

Bishop Guertin was able to hold South scoreless for almost four minutes as the Cardinals climbed back with a 7-0 run, making it a one-point game on a three-point play by Santosuosso. But the Panthers would score eight of the next nine points and lead 44-36 with 5:46 to play.

The teams traded baskets with just under two minutes to play to make it a 48-45 lead for South, but Bishop Guertin would miss a 3 on its next possession. After a steal by Anderson, the Cardinals had a chance to tie in the final minute, but Alize Roig-Cortes got a steal of his own before Bishop Guertin could take a shot.

The Cardinals had one more chance in the final seconds, but another 3 wouldn’t go down and the Panthers held on for the win.

No. 2 Pinkerton 77, No. 7 Windham 55

The Astros opened the game with a 23-2 run and cruised past the Jaguars to return to the semifinals for the second year in a row.

Sean Jenkins led Pinkerton (19-1) with 19 points while Anthony Chinn added 18 points and Tyrone Chinn had 16. Jackson Marshall was also in double figures with 10 points for the Astros.

Windham (13-7) got 18 points from Jack St. Hillaire, but no one else was in double figures. Jack Runde added eight points while Blake Dempsey and Jack Murphy had seven points apiece.