Blues Soar to Win Over Whites to Advance to Semifinals

After a slow start, the Blues certainly found their scoring touch.

Matt Bernstein led a balanced attack, recording 10 points, including a pair of two-point shots en route to a 25-18 win over the Whites in Thursday night’s Outdoor Basketball League quarterfinal action at Wayland High School.

With the win, the Blues improved to 4-7 overall and will face the  Blacks in Tuesday night’s semifinal round action. Tip-off is slated for a 7:30 p.m. start. In the loss, the Whites finished their season at 3-8.

“We only had four guys show up and we played four-on-four for a while,’’ said Mark Foreman, who registered six points in the losing effort. “We didn’t have a lot of guys show up because of other commitments, but we gave it our best shot with what we had out there. In the end we just kind of ran out of gas.”

Throughout the game’s opening frame, both teams traded baskets en route to a 5-5 tie before the Whites engineered a brief 4-0 run. Trailing 8-6, Forman nailed a jumper before Dave Crismond sank a two-pointer from the top of the key. With a 9-8 lead in hand, the Whites extended the lead to 10-8 on a Forman basket from down low.

Then, led by Bernstein, the Blues ignited a furious 8-0 run, transforming a 10-8 deficit into a 16-10 lead. After Bernstein’s first two-pointer of the night tied the contest at 10-10, captain Graham Clark connected on a basket down low as the Blues grabbed an 11-10 lead. Bernstein continued with the hot hand, nailing a pair of two-point shots from the top of the key before Derek Brisson’s runner from the post paved the way for a commanding 16-10 edge.

“We just started hitting our shots, and that was the difference,’’ said Bernstein. “We were hitting our shots from the perimeter and capitalizing on our opportunities. We didn’t turn the ball over and we were forcing turnovers on their end.”

A two-pointer followed by a Foreman lay-up trimmed the gap to 16-13, but the Blues ignited a 3-0 run to regain the six-point 19-13 advantage.

Crismond’s second two-pointer of the night cut the deficit to 19-15, before the Blues answered with a 4-0 run for a 23-15 lead. In the surge, Clark connected on a pair of lay-ups before baskets by Brisson and Bernstein capped the run.

Despite a 3-1 rally by the Whites, the Blues secured the victory on another Bernstein jumper.

“We had a lot of guys here, and we were able to rotate some people,’’ said Bernstein. “We had some depth and we were able to work that to our advantage. It was a nice win, and now we’re looking forward to competing in the next round.”