High School Sports

February 07. 2013 10:48PM

NHIAA Boys' Basketball: Spaulding pulls past Bedford

By ROGER BROWN
New Hampshire Union Leader

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ROCHESTER - Bedford High boys' basketball coach Mike Fitzpatrick may not have been unhappy with how his team performed in the first and fourth quarters against Spaulding of Rochester on Thursday night, but he couldn't have liked what he witnessed in between.

Spaulding outscored Bedford by 12 points in the second quarter and four more in the third to post a 50-44 triumph.

Bedford trailed by 12 with 4:06 to play, but cut its deficit to three points after Jacob Capistran hit a 3-pointer with 1:04 left. That was as close as the Bulldogs would get, however, as Spaulding raised its Division I record to 11-2.

"Spaulding did a great job of pressuring us defensively," Fitzpatrick said. "Sometimes we responded well. Sometimes not so well. Their guards in particular were very good. We competed with them, but they were the better team tonight."

Seth Fogg and Dominic Paradis each scored 10 points to lead the Spaulding offense. Taylor Grande and Capistran each tossed in 10 for Bedford.

"I thought the defensive end for us was pretty good all night long," Spaulding coach Tim Cronin said. "Rebounding was a priority for us tonight, and I thought we did a good job in that area."

Bedford, which had won three in a row, dropped to 6-6.

"We just want to keep improving," Fitzpatrick said. "The teams that keep getting better are the ones that are there at the end."

Spaulding started the game in a zone, and Bedford's Cam Meservey took advantage by hitting two early 3-pointers. Cronin scrapped the zone with about two minutes remaining in the first quarter.

"We've been playing a lot of man to man and I kind of wanted to throw a wrinkle at them," Cronin said. "It kind of backfired because they have some good shooters."

Bedford led 13-7 after one quarter, but the Red Raiders outscored the Bulldogs 25-19 in the second. Spaulding carried a 41-31 lead into the final quarter.

"We played well when we had to," Cronin said. "It was a good win for us against a quality team."

rbrown@unionleader.com