Brewster, defense fuel Portsmouth boys basketball triumph over Dover

PORTSMOUTH — It was an up-and-down kind of night for the Portsmouth High School boys basketball on Friday.

Following Tuesday’s loss to Exeter in a measuring-stick game, the Clippers’ chances for a bounceback win ranged from promising to “wait and see” at different points throughout the night. 

The roller coaster Portsmouth endured was worth it, though, as it hit its stride late and ran away with a 58-44 win over Dover. After scoring 17 points combined between the second and third quarter, Portsmouth (3-1) generated a 20-point fourth quarter that included an early 11-2 run that put Dover (3-1) away.

While the Clippers led wire to wire, there wasn’t a sense of comfort until the end of the third quarter, which ended with a 38-31 lead after after a quick five-point Portsmouth swing courtesy of a Tommy Degnan 3-pointer and a Thomas Weir putback.

Coleman Brewster, who finished with a game-high 20 points, offered the knockout punch for the Clippers with the first eight points in its 11-2 spurt.

“My coach always reminds me that I am a main scoring option for this team, but when shots aren’t falling, I need to be confident and still shoot it,” Brewster said. “It happened to start falling for me finally there in the fourth.”

Brewster added that the team’s offense over the final minutes had much to do with Portsmouth coach John Mulvey telling players to abandon taking the first 3-pointer they saw in favor of crashing the open lanes Dover’s defense was offering up.

“We rely on the 3-pointer a lot and it really wasn’t falling that much,” Mulvey said. Portsmouth dropped six treys on the night, but three of them came in the first three minutes of the game. “We ended up finding ways to get the ball inside a little bit and did some damage in there.”

Degnan and Kevin Cummings followed Brewster on the scoresheet with 11 points apiece while Calvin Hewett pitched in 10. Kingsley Breen, Dover’s go-to option, led the Green Wave with 15 points, 14 of which came in the first quarter.

Breen, a potential D1 Player of the Year candidate, spent much of the second quarter on the bench and Dover still managed to stay close with a 29-26 halftime deficit. The Green Wave even had a chance at a lead before the break, but a missed free throw and second-chance layup in the final minute wiped away the opportunity.

Dover didn’t help itself to start the second half either, as it turned the ball over on five of its first eight possessions and scored just two points. The miscues continued sporadically for the Green Wave in the third quarter and it wasn’t long before the turnovers turned into Portsmouth points.

“It really started when we got them to turn it over a little bit,” Mulvey said. “They’re a great team and their point guard takes care of the ball, but the turnovers we did get turned into the offense we needed.”

Besides the capitalization, Mulvey lauded the efforts of bench players like Weir and Eli Vangel, noting that the secondary contributions were “a really encouraging sign.”

A grind-it-out signature win against a Seacoast rival following a setback to another neighboring foe will go a long way for the Clippers, according to Brewster.

“Definitely a bounceback that keeps our heads on track,” Brewster said. “It’s the type of game that can get you ready for March and that bigger stuff.”