Sunday Afternoon Basketball at TD Garden – BHS and CCHS Take their Game to Town

By Dan Brosgol and Jeff Hoyland

On Sunday afternoon at the TD Garden in Boston, the 5-1 Bedford Buccaneers boys’ basketball team took the fabled parquet floor against archrivals Concord-Carlisle as a part of the Good Sports Invitational. The high school basketball action began at 8 am with Austin Prep playing Lowell Catholic and continued all day until the Bucs and Patriots took the court shortly after 5 to renew their traditional rivalry in the 7^th game of the day.

 

 

The old foes played an exciting, up-tempo game from the opening tip. The Patriots raced out to an early 9-2 lead, but the Bucs cut the gap to 16-11 after the 1^st quarter. The first half ended with C-C up by the slimmest of margins, 27-26, behind 10 points from senior center David Poor, whose play in the paint was the story of the game; Poor dominated the area near the basket and put on a clinic with his footwork and soft shooting touch. For Bedford, freshman Malachi Hazelton paced the Buccaneer attack with 9 first-half points of his own, scoring on three-pointers, mid-range jump shots, and aggressive drives to the basket.

Below, three images by Dan Brosgol – Click to enlarge each one

Below, three images by Jeff Hoyland – Click to enlarge each one

And, to get the full sense of the afternoon, check Jeff Hoyland’s images posted to his Bedford Snapshots page on Facebook

• Pregame, 50 images – https://www.facebook.com/BedfordSnapshots/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1305089779548042
• 1st Quarter, 64 images – https://www.facebook.com/BedfordSnapshots/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1305134926210194
• 2nd Quarter, 76 images – https://www.facebook.com/BedfordSnapshots/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1305376522852701
• Half-time, 43 images – https://www.facebook.com/BedfordSnapshots/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1305104506213236
• 3rd Quarter, 75 images – https://www.facebook.com/BedfordSnapshots/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1305503506173336
• 4th Quarter, 70 images – https://www.facebook.com/BedfordSnapshots/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1305555702834783

 

Following the halftime break, which featured both C-C and Bedford youth basketball players doing layup drills and 3-point drills on the Celtics’ home floor, the two teams kept up the frenetic tempo in the third frame. Bedford senior guard Tim Cowen’s buzzer-beating three-pointer to close out the 3^rd quarter made the score 42-39 and set the table for a thrilling final eight minutes.

The 4^th quarter saw C-C pull ahead again, and Bedford claw back to narrow the gap to 3 points down the stretch, but in the end the Bucs had no answer for either Poor, who finished with a game-high 26 points, or his teammate Spencer Patenaude, who added 22 points of his own, including making 5 five 3-pointers. Despite 19 points from Hazelton, 12 from Cameron Shelmire, and 10 points from Cowen, the Bucs came out on the short end of a 64-56 score-line.But for the over 300 Bedford fans who packed the north side of the stands at the Garden, the Bucs played a game many of them will fondly remember.

With the loss, the Bucs dropped to 5-2, but are well-positioned for a playoff run in late winter. Their next game is Friday night at home against Boston Latin.

Editor’s Note: The Bedford Citizen thanks Jeff Hoyland and Dan Brosgol for their outstanding coverage, and hopes that they will join forces for future collaborations.