Portsmouth boys basketball cruises to win over Milford (video)

PORTSMOUTH – There wasn’t much for Jim Mulvey to say to the Portsmouth High School boys basketball team at halftime Friday against Milford.

The Clippers were already doing everything the best they had all season.

Portsmouth led by 29 points at the break thanks to a defense that didn’t allow Milford room to operate and a transition game that exploded for over 40 points. It was more of the same in the second half, as the Clippers cruised past the Spartans 74-35 in a game between undefeated teams.

“I told the guys at halftime, that’s as good as it gets,” Mulvey said. “They were undefeated coming in, and I’m sure some of our crowd thinks they weren’t very good, but I’ve seen them before. They’re pretty good. We didn’t let them breathe, we didn’t let them do anything they wanted to do. Offensively, we moved the ball and got good looks. That’s textbook for us, that first half.”

Cody Graham led the way for Portsmouth (8-0), scoring 17 of his game-high 19 points in the first half. Shon Parham added 15 points and Joey Glynn was also in double figures with 10.

Ryan Banuskevich scored 11 points for Milford (6-1), but no one else was in double figures. Kirk Palladino added seven points.

“We froze,” Milford coach Dan Murray said. “We got our feet stuck in the mud and they’re good, they’re quick. We’d been practicing all week against traps. When it comes, we had cutters going through, but what we did was stay stationary and throw to the weak side of the court. We were just shellshocked.”

Although the Spartans had prepared for the Clippers’ defense, there was no way to mimic just how good it would be on Friday.

“It’s hard when anyone really pressures, to duplicate it in practice, because no one really brings that intensity,” Mulvey said. “Our kids are playing at a pretty high level right now. You could see them get a little deflated and the kids could sense that. That helped us turn up the heat a little more.”

And it was more heat than Milford had seen all season.

“Some of the teams we played against, we were able to stay stationary and get the ball moving,” Murray said. “But they were hedging our gaps and we didn’t slide the gap over a little further. That’s when the transition ones (came). Our halfcourt defense probably wasn’t bad in the first half, but we gave up a good 30 (points) in transition.”

Portsmouth led 10-0 midway through the first quarter and the lead was still 10 points, 18-8, at the end of the frame. But the Clippers outscored Milford 24-5 in the second to take a 42-13 lead into halftime.

It was more of the same in the second half, as Portsmouth opened the third with a 17-3 run to go up 59-16 with 2:39 to go until the fourth. Milford went on an 8-0 run after that, but wouldn’t get any closer.

“That’s the first time this year that we ran that well,” Mulvey said. “Everything for us stems from our defense. We’re OK in the halfcourt because we run good sets, but when we get out and run, it’s pretty good. That was the best we played all year. Milford could play us again and we wouldn’t play that well.”