Portsmouth boys basketball finishes undefeated season with D1 title win over Bedford

DURHAM - Joey Glynn really didn't know what to expect when the Portsmouth High School boys basketball team moved up to Division I before this season.

As it turns out, the Clippers could have prepared for much of the same.

After running the table during the regular season, No. 1 Portsmouth capped of a second-straight perfect season with a 63-40 win over No. 3 Bedford in the Division I championship game Saturday at Lundholm Gym at the University of New Hampshire.

The win runs the Clippers' win streak to 43 straight, and is their first Class L/Division I title since 1994.

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"It's my senior year, I was trying to finish it as best I could," Glynn said. "I had no idea we'd get to this, and I'm just so proud we did. These guys battle everyday and they never gave up. These guys are a good group of guys and I love playing with them. To leave your senior year on top, there's no better feeling in the world."

Glynn did his part, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, while Christian Peete had a game-high 21 points, including 5 of 6 from behind the 3-point line.

After a slow first half for both sides, Portsmouth shot 77.3 percent from the field - including 6 of 7 from 3 - in the final 16 minutes. The Clippers outscored Bedford 26-14 in the paint, and scored 11 second-chance points while outrebounding the Bulldogs 29-21.

"I knew Joey would play better and I thought he did," Portsmouth coach Jim Mulvey said. "If Joey had a good game, we'd be in good shape. We got a lot of bonus offense from Christian Peete. I didn't see that coming.

"We talked about ball movement and getting the ball from one side to the other. Sometimes, with Joey, you tend to focus on one side and try to let him go to work, but teams would send a double team on him. He did a good job of moving the ball and Christian was open. You've still got to make those shots, and those are not easy. They were definitely doubling Joey and leaving (Christian) open."

Liam Greene led the way for the Bulldogs with 13 points and Connor Crowley came off the bench to add seven. Bedford (17-4) had a hard time getting shots in the first half, shooting 6 of 14 from the field, and had just six points with three minutes remaining before halftime when disaster struck.

Troy Meservey, Bedford's leading scorer, went up to block a shot by Portsmouth's Cody Graham and landed awkwardly on his left leg. The senior stayed down and the game was stopped for 25 minutes as paramedics worked to get him on a stretcher.

Bedford coach Mark Elmendorf said after the game that Meservey had broken his lower left leg.

"Some I thought it hurt badly, and some rallied around it," Elmendorf said of Meservey's injury. "He's our leading scorer and it obviously affected the game, but that's not why we lost. They're good, they beat us. Give them all the credit. We had a great year and no one would have ever picked Bedford to be here.

"Their defense is fabulous. They can lock you down. We had a hard time. They can play serious defense and we knew that going in. They make you take, every possession, they make you take a tough shot."

Despite that, Bedford was down 23-15 at halftime, but the Bulldogs came out cold to start the second half, missing six of their first seven shots.

Portsmouth took advantage, hitting all 10 of its shots from the field in the third. The Clippers went on a 21-5 run to take a 44-20 lead with 1:58 left in the quarter and took a 47-24 advantage into the fourth.

"They're a big, physical team and when we start moving the ball around, it starts to get guys on defense moving more," Glynn said. "We tried to get it inside as much as possible. It's a loud gym, don't know what to expect, but you've got to keep calm and execute, screening, get the ball around."

Bedford's offense started to pick up in the fourth, but by then, it was too late.

"This is really special because the program, where it was, we had to make the decision to go D2 and it was the right decision," Mulvey said. "We were losing a lot by bad numbers and kids were discouraged. We did that. To take it to Division I and bring it all the way back and win it. Undefeated, that wasn't in my wildest dreams."