An upcoming window of about 100 hours will set the tone for the Bedford High School boys’ basketball team as it heads toward the post season.
The Bucs qualified for at least a play-in tournament game on Tuesday with their 10th win of the season, 41-36, at home against Shawsheen Valley Technical.
The next three games will be in gyms away from home: 6 p.m. on Friday vs. a much-improved Acton-Boxborough team, 4 p.m. on Sunday at high-flying Waltham in a make-up game, and 7 p.m. on Tuesday at perennial power Cambridge Rindge and Latin.
On Friday, Feb. 9, the team returns home for Senior Night vs. Boston Latin.
Head Coach Anthony Halls, who has led the Bucs to post-season qualification each year since he took the helm in the fall of 2021, acknowledged that the upcoming road trip will be “very tough.”
His mantra all season has been, “If we play solid defense, we give ourselves a chance to win.” And that has been verified: the team is 10-2 and has not allowed any opponent to score more than 56 points.
Still, the Bucs will be looking for more offense this weekend. After dropping their second game of the season at Westford Academy last Friday, 53-42, the Bucs scored only 41 on Tuesday, surviving what was starting to look like a runaway over Shawsheen.
The Buccaneers led 33-20 after three quarters, and Justice Buchannan’s putback made it 38-20 before a minute had elapsed in the fourth. That would be Bedford’s final field goal as the team managed only five more shots and turned the ball over seven times, flustered by the Rams’ full-court pressure.
“We had a chance to put them away and we didn’t,” Halls said. “We didn’t play well down the stretch.”
Indeed, the Bucs were outscored 16-8 with only four free throws providing enough breathing room for the win.
The biggest difference, statistically and on the floor, was rebounding. Bedford owned a 43-24 edge, including 18 on the offensive boards. Bedford’s four put-back baskets off rebounds provided to be crucial.
Mekhi Volcy led the scoring with 12 points, all in the first half, and for the game, added six rebounds and two assists. Camdyn Shoesmith scored 11 and controlled both boards with 16 rebounds. Buchannan added eight boards and three steals.
Defensively Bedford held the Tech to 10 points in the first half and 34 percent shooting for the game.
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