After pushing their winning streak to nine games with a besting of struggling Spaulding in Derry early last week, the Pinkerton Academy boys’ basketball squad saw its skein come to a screeching halt with a surprising loss to a scuffling Bedford High bunch at home last Friday night.
The now 11-2 Astros bested the visiting Spaulding High Red Raiders from Rochester by 17 points in a 79-62 decision at home Tuesday evening, Feb. 9.
With that loss, the Red Raiders slid to 3-9 in Division I, with PA advancing to 11-1 atop the league standings.
The upstart Spaulding squad grasped a 16-12 advantage at the close of one quarter and a tiny, 37-36 lead at halftime.
But the hosts – known for their great second-half performances – outscored their guests by a 43-25 margin in the second half in bagging the win.
Pinkerton led 63-49 after three stanzas were over after outscoring the Raiders by a 27-12 tally in the third period.
Brennan Morris and Matt Rizzo each reached the 20-point mark in guiding their side to the success, with Morris netting 26 points – including four, three-point buckets – and Rizzo collecting 20. Tommy Romick also contributed 13 for the home-standing victors. All in all, the winning side nailed nine, three-point shots.
But quite a bit less went well for the locals in their 59-39 loss to a scuffling Bedford bunch, which entered Friday, Feb. 12 play having dropped three consecutive decisions.
The visiting Bulldogs won each and every quarter, leading 12-4 after one stanza, 26-17 at the half, and 40-25 going into the fourth period.
Rizzo paced the sub-par PA effort by scoring 15 points, with Ben Olson tallying a dozen on a rough night for the locals.
The Pinkerton crew then stepped into this week intent on rebounding from the loss to Bedford with a Tuesday night game at Trinity High in Manchester on Feb. 16, after Nutfield News press time, and then back at home against the Bishop Guertin High School Cardinals from Nashua this Friday evening, Feb. 19.
