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# Portsmouth boys basketball snaps Pembroke's win streak
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/portsmouth-boys-basketball-snaps-pembrokes-win-streak/
- Published: 2014-01-31T19:53:12.000Z
- Updated: 2014-01-31T19:53:12.000Z
- Description: PEMBROKE - There wasn't much time for the Portsmouth High School boys basketball team to prepare for Thursday night's game at Pembroke Academy.
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Winter Sports, boys basketball, Division II, Pembroke, Portsmouth, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

PEMBROKE - There wasn't much time for the Portsmouth High School boys basketball team to prepare for Thursday night's game at Pembroke Academy.

![Pembroke's Patrick Welch tries to find an opening as Portsmouth's Nick Mackey defends during Thursday's game.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/jmpabball013014-p15-1.jpg)

Pembroke's Patrick Welch tries to find an opening as Portsmouth's Nick Mackey defends during Thursday's game.

The Clippers played at home Tuesday, beating Goffstown, but as soon as the game was over, the players and coaches were ready to turn their focus on the Spartans.

It paid off, as Portsmouth held Pembroke to one field goal in the fourth quarter and came back for a 53-49 win on the Spartans' court. The win also snapped Pembroke's 31-game winning streak and was its first loss since March 10, 2012.

"They were so pumped up," Portsmouth coach Jim Mulvey said of his players. "We played Tuesday night and the second the game ended, everyone was going 'who is guarding who?' That's a tribute to Pembroke's program."

Nick Mackey led all scorers with 19 points, including four 3-pointers, and De'Vonn Wilson-Miles was also in double figures with 11 points, but it was the defense that led Portsmouth (7-2) to the victory.

The Clippers held Patrick Welch to 15 points, almost nine below his average, by using a combination of Mackey and Donovan Phanor on the senior.

"(Mackey) had a lot of pressure on him," Mulvey said. "Defensively, he had Welch to start, and then Donovan and him took turns. All year, they're our two best defenders. Tremendous effort by our guys, because did a lot of stuff in one day to prepare for this."

Kafani Williams led the Spartans (9-1) with 16 points, but Pembroke struggled to make shots late in the game, going 5 of 25 from behind the 3-point line.

"I thought Portsmouth played a great game execution-wise and they did a great job on Pat (Welch)," Pembroke coach Matt Alosa said. "He got his points, but clearly, we struggled.

"They were running a double team at him and we needed some other guys to make some more plays and we didn't make enough. In the second half, I thought we were control of it through three (quarters) and then we went into a lull for a while, we couldn't put the ball in the basket and Portsmouth capitalized."

![Pembroke's Kafani Williams goes in for a layup.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/jmpabball013014-p23-2.jpg)

Pembroke's Kafani Williams goes in for a layup.

The teams were tied at 15 to end the first quarter and Pembroke was able to pull out in front in the second. But every time it seemed the Spartans were about to take control, Portsmouth answered with a 3-pointer that kept it within striking distance. The Clippers took most of their shots from behind the arc and connected on nine of them.

"I really didn't want to (take that many 3s), but they're so darn big and so good in the interior that we really didn't get many looks inside," Mulvey said. "We should have got it in and we kept asking the guys to throw it inside more, but their interior defense is great."

Pembroke led by as many as six in the third quarter and was up 41-37 going into the fourth, but 3s by Pat Glynn and Charlie Lehoux put the Clippers on top 43-41 with 4:43 left in the game. The Spartans went more than six minutes without scoring and after a Williams layup late in the third quarter, Pembroke didn't make a shot from the field until the final minute of the game.

Despite that, the Spartans were still within a possession or two because Portsmouth went 6 of 14 from the free throw line in the final four-plus minutes of the game.

"We just couldn't make a shot," Alosa said. "We missed a few free throws, we missed a few shots from the outside. It's not normal for us to one, shoot 25 3-pointers, and two, go 3 for 25\. Give credit to them for playing defense and holding us to that."