Wareham two good

By Mike Del Rosso / Division 3 | Tuesday, March 9, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com |

Wareham fired on all cylinders to blast past Bedford, 63-49, in last night’s Division 3 state semifinal at the Garden.

Guards Jordan Rezendes and Jules Tavares were the catalysts, providing the game-changing moment when they connected on an alley-oop in the third quarter. Rezendes threw the lob, and Tavares finished.

“(Tavares and I) try to get the alley in every game,” said Rezendes, who had 20 points and four rebounds.

Early in the first quarter, Rezendes found himself with two fouls and took a seat. Tavares (16 points, five rebounds) and forward Patrick Murphy (10 rebounds) also got in foul trouble while helping to build a 10-point lead. But center Ryan Pina (22 rebounds) and others from the bench came up big.

“The bench came in and we were able to maintain that 10-point cushion, even with the three starters sitting,” Wareham coach Kevin Brogioli said. “That was a big point of that game.”

Ahead by just a point at 15-14, the Vikings were struggling to put up big numbers on offense, but the defense was solid. Wareham held Bedford (17-7) to a season low in points.

“People always assume because we’re one of the highest-scoring teams in the state, we don’t play defense,” Brogioli said. “We play defense.”

Rebounding from an offensive lull, Wareham (24-1) went on a 12-point run in the second half with Rezendes back in the mix. Bedford’s Michael Thorsen, who was 0-for-4 behind the arc at that point, drained a trey with two minutes to go, and also drew two fouls from the Vikings to add two more points and bring the Buccaneers within 36-26 at the half.

In the opening seconds of the second half, Kevin Cangiano (nine points) stuck a 3-pointer to cut Wareham’s lead to seven points. Wareham played a little back on its heels early in the third, but the notorious Rezendes-to-Tavares alley-oop swung the momentum back to the Vikings, where it stayed until the end.

Point guard Michael Ingram-Rubin had a game-high 21 points for Bedford.

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