Pelham boys basketball comes back to get OT win over Coe-Brown

NORTHWOOD –  After losing its first two games of the season, the two-time defending Division II champion Pelham High School boys basketball team reeled off 11 straight wins before that streak was emphatically ended at Bow.

The Pythons were anxious to get back on the floor following last Friday’s loss to the Falcons and were back on the road for Tuesday night’s clash with Coe-Brown Academy.

Pelham was put to the test, but the Pythons bounced back by rallying–and surviving– for a 54-51 overtime decision inside Smith Hall.

“This was kind of a revenge game for us. We worked hard in practice (Monday), figured out a game plan and came out strong,” Pelham junior Brady Hegan said. “That was a good one. We know that every game is going to be like that the rest of the season. We’re not expecting anything different from the rest of the schedule.”

Pelham coach Joe Morin Sr. felt like the loss served as a bit of a wakeup call for a squad that is gearing up to make a run at another championship. Pelham (12-3) wraps up its regular season with Friday’s game against ConVal followed by contests next week against Manchester West and Oyster River.

“We knew that’s not who we were. We’re hoping to play 24 games this year and you’re bound to have a game like that,” Morin Sr. said. “After coming back from a game like that and winning a game like this (Tuesday), sometimes a loss you can learn from it and it can be beneficial.”

Pelham began its comeback after trailing 40-34 midway through the fourth quarter when a hoop by Justin Bowlan was followed by a steal and bucket from Hegan (12 points). Bowlan then found Shawn Bodenrader (13 points) to tie the game at 40-40 with two minutes left in regulation.

Hegan and Coe-Brown’s Matthew Flanagan (15 points) traded buckets before Pelham’s Brady O’Connor missed a buzzer-beating 3-point attempt to send the teams into overtime tied at 43-43.

“I started off slow and (Bodenrader) came out of the gates early but something kind of snapped in the second half,” Hegan said. “We got some buckets, got some energy and that kind of kept us going in the fourth.”

Coe-Brown (12-4) grabbed a 49-46 lead after Flanagan converted a steal, but Nick Giuffrida countered with a 3-pointer for Pelham to tie the game at 49-49 with 1:25 left in overtime.

Pelham took the lead when Bodenrader converted a steal and he followed that by finishing a transition pass from Hegan to give the Pythons a 53-49 lead with 15 seconds remaining.

“Those are two guys we rely on for defense and rebounding and they came up big,” Morin Sr. said. “We told the guys in the locker room that every game from here out is going to be like this and you’ve just got to find a way.

Coe-Brown had its seven game-winning streak snapped, but longtime Bears’ coach David Smith likes where his team is at entering the tournament. Coe-Brown travels to first-place Pembroke (14-1) on Friday.

“We made a couple of turnovers that cost us at the end but we played a fierce game on the defensive end,” Smith said. “If someone is going to beat us they’re really going to have to earn it like Pelham did.”