> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Late run lifts Bedford boys basketball past Keene to win D1 title (video) - URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/late-run-lifts-bedford-boys-basketball-past-keene-to-win-d1-title-video/ - Published: 2025-03-17T22:10:50.000Z - Updated: 2025-03-17T22:10:50.000Z - Description: DURHAM - The Bedford High School boys basketball team went into Sunday's Division I championship game believing that it would have an advantage against Keene when it came to rebounding. - Author: Joe Marchilena - Tags: Division I, Bedford, boys basketball, championship, Keene, playoffs, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44 DURHAM - The Bedford High School boys basketball team went into Sunday's Division I championship game believing that it would have an advantage against Keene when it came to rebounding. The Bulldogs didn't know they were going to need every inch of that advantage. Top-seeded Bedford outrebounded No. 6 Keene by 21 and scored 29 second-chance points, keeping the game close enough late for the Bulldogs to come back for a 51-50 win to capture the program's second D1 championship in three years at the University of New Hampshire's Lundholm Gymnasium. In perhaps its worst shooting performance of the season, Bedford (18-3) was just 18 of 60 from the field, including missing 21 of 22 3-point attempts, while also shooting just 48.3 percent from the free throw line. But the Bulldogs outrebounded the Blackbirds, 53-32, which included grabbing 27 offensive rebounds. "We weren’t playing great," Bedford coach Frank Moreno said. "We were struggling against that zone. We couldn’t make free throws. We just got together and said ‘guys, we’ve been here before, we’re not playing our best, so let’s get back to what we do, get the ball inside.’" Connor O'Rourke led the Bulldogs with 18 points and 11 rebounds while Landon Ellsmore had 10 points and 11 boards and Wiji Dak had a team-high 14 boards to go with seven points. Those performances helped Bedford overcome two seven-point deficits in the second half, the second of which saw Keene (16-6) take a 46-39 lead with just over three minutes remaining. From there, the Bulldogs outscored the Blackbirds, 12-4, to take the win. "We just never quit," Bedford junior Logan O'Connell said. "We weren’t even supposed to be here. We look up, fourth quarter, we’re in the state championship, we just don’t quit. Why would we? We’re right here. We stayed resilient and we stuck together." Keene, which was playing in the a title game for the first time since 1992, led for almost 21 minutes. The Blackbirds got 19 points from Javon Massiah while Jamal Stanley added nine points and eight rebounds and Alex Holmes had six points and five boards. The game was tied at 14 after one quarter but both team struggled on offense in the second quarter, as Keene shot 23.8 percent from the field, including 0 for 7 from 3, while Bedford was just 2 of 11 from the field and 2 for 8 at the line for the quarter. But just before the buzzer, Massiah came down with a rebound and fired a pass down the court to Kasen Abbott, who laid it in to give the Blackbirds a 25-20 lead at the break. Massiah then opened the second half with a basket to give Keene its first seven-point lead, it's largest to that point. "We shifted things around a little bit," Moreno said. "We put Connor and Wiji at the blocks and we had Jack (Hinton) setting a ball screen so we could get into the middle of that zone a little bit so we could let those guys go to work." The results was a 9-0 run that put the Bulldogs up by two and forced Keene to take a timeout with 4:35 remaining in the third. "We had to really feed the big at the high post and look low or attack them, and get off two feet," O'Rourke said. "We definitely had some more size than them. At the end of the day, we had to box out and eliminate their second-chance points. It makes a difference." The Blackbirds responded and a 3-pointer by Massiah just before the buzzer gave Keene a 34-32 lead going into the fourth. O'Rourke tied the game at 34 with two free throws to open the final quarter but the Blackbirds went on a 12-5 run, going up 46-39 on a pair from the line by Stanley with 3:05 remaining. Bedford swung momentum right out of the break, as Ellsmore scored and was fouled. Despite missing the free throw, Ellsmore got the rebound and scored again, giving the Bulldogs four quick points to cut the lead to three. Massiah pushed it back to five with two free throws, but O'Connell (nine points, five assists) scored a quick basket. After Holmes missed a pair of free throws, Ellsmore made two to get Bedford within one, 48-47, with 2:04 remaining. Bedford's press created a turnover as Keene brough the ball up, leading to a basket by Ali Shoukier and a 49-48 lead for the Bulldogs. Stanley hit two more free throws to give the Blackbirds a 50-49 lead, but a putback by O'Rourke gave the Bulldogs a 51-50 lead with just over a minute remaining. Keene had two chances to go back in front, but Will Fontaine missed a pair of free throws, and after a Bedford turnover, O'Connell stole the ball from Massiah. A halfcourt heave by Abbott at the buzzer glanced off the front rim and Bedford celebrated. "We didn’t care, we didn’t listen to any of the doubters and the haters," O'Connell said. "We just stuck to our group and we went to practice every day. We stuck together and we didn’t listen to any outside noise."