Tavares leads Viking march

Bedford is money in overtime

By Jake Seiner and Evan MacDonald, Globe Correspondents | March 7, 2010

The Wareham boys’ basketball team has run over its competition all year long. The Vikings have dropped 90-plus points on their opponents 14 times, thanks primarily to their athleticism and fast-break abilities.

The third-seeded Vikings ran their way to a South title yesterday, knocking off top-seeded Cardinal Spellman, 78-71, at UMass-Boston.

Junior Jules Tavares starred for the Vikings, scoring 30 points, including the 1,000th of his career late in the second quarter on a driving layup.

The 6-foot-3-inch guard is the second Wareham player to eclipse the plateau this season, joining 6-1 senior Jordan Rezendes (15 points), who reached the mark in January.

“[Tavares] really stepped up,’’ said Wareham coach Kevin Brogioli, whose team will play Bedford in the state semifinals tomorrow at TD Garden.

Tavares and Rezendes could soon be joined by junior Patrick Murphy (11 points), who needs 14 points to become the third Wareham player in the 1,000-point club this season.

Tavares and the Vikings (23-1) went on a 20-6 run to close out the second quarter, capped by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Murphy that gave Wareham a 42-32 lead at the break.

The Cardinals (22-2) made a push with a 6-0 run to open the third, and made a few charges to get back in the game, but each time they did, Wareham responded with a run of its own.

“I almost dropped it - I was just a little too excited,’’ Murphy said about getting his hands on the Division 3 South trophy. “Once we won it, you know it’s, ‘We’re going to the Garden. We’re going to the Garden.’ A lot of excitement going on now for the whole team.’’

Bedford 73, Lynn Tech 67 - After coming up short in the tournament the last few years, the Buccaneers were not going to be discouraged by a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter.

Fueled by a raucous crowd, Bedford rallied from 13 points down to stun Lynn Tech in overtime in the North championship at Emmanuel College.

“The kids never quit when we got down,’’ said Bedford coach Jim Byrnes, whose squad improved to 17-6.

“We finally just said, ‘Fourth quarter. If we’re going to go down, let’s go down fighting, and let’s do it on the defensive end.’ That’s what turned it.’’

The Tigers began the fourth quarter with a 51-38 lead, but the Buccaneers came back with a flurry of steals and layups, and a basket by sophomore Justin McAfee tied the score at 57 with three minutes to play.

Following two Tech free throws, Bedford took its first lead of the quarter at 61-59 on a 3-point play by senior Brandon Watson.

Tech sophomore B-Jay Baptiste tied the score on a floater, though, and Tech had possession coming out of a timeout with 18.5 seconds remaining.

But a last-second 3-point attempt by junior Rich Warren was long, and the game went to overtime.

Bedford controlled the extra frame, scoring the first 6 points on a pair of free throws by Watson and layups by Kevin Cangiano and Michael Ingram-Rubin.

The Tigers (17-7) couldn’t get anything going offensively in overtime, and Bedford sealed the win at the line.