When people talk about the 5th seeded Bedford Bulldogs boys basketball team, the discussion is usually focused on the incredible amount of size 2nd year coach John Langlois has at his disposal. The Bulldogs start twin towers in 6'8" senior Trevor Fahmy and 6'10" sophomore Collin McManus, and they can come off the bench with 6’8” junior Samuel Thomas and 6’7” sophomore Roger Larrivee.  They also have 2 pretty big guards in starters Trevor Glassman and James Capparell, both of whom check in at a solid 6’2”.  But on this night it was sophomore swingman Cameron Meservey who stood the tallest in a 49-36 win over Souhegan that sent the Bulldogs to the Final 4 at UNH.

I’ve seen Bedford play 3 times so far this season and the 6’2 Meservey never really…well, stood out.  I saw him make a few shots and handle the ball around the perimeter, but I never knew he had the kind of ability to pump in a game high 19 points and lead his team to a win over a tough Souhegan squad on the road in a big spot.  “He can really play, he’s a really good basketball player”, said coach Langlois after the game.  “He’s been starting for us all year and he’s playing harder and better every single game.  He’s a great player, Cameron Meservey.” 

Bedford capitalized on their size advantage to take the lead in the early going.  They were up 10-7 after 1, and by halftime they had doubled the lead to 20-14 by forcing Souhegan into missing jump shots because of their tough to get over or around zone defense.  On offense, the Bulldogs weren’t exactly lighting it up either, but they were able to dominate on the glass getting multiple offensive rebounds which led to scores and limiting the Sabres to just 1 shot attempt per trip down the floor most of the time.  McManus and Fahmy combined to score 12 of Bedford’s 20 1^st half points, while Meservey chipped in 5. 

The 3^rd quarter started off well for Souhegan when junior shooting guard Zack Simmonds sank the 1^st 2 hoops of the 2^nd half, the latter a left corner 3 to bring the Sabres within 1 at 20-19.  But Meservey answered right back with a 3-ball of his own.  Fahmy would then hit a jumper before Simmonds(team leading 16 points) continued his personal scoring run with another pair of hoops that had the Bedford lead down to 2 at 25-23 midway thru the 3^rd.  It looked like Souhegan might be able to take control shortly after that when Fahmy(13 points) picked up his 4^th foul with 2:44 left in the quarter trying to block the shot of reserve forward Tim Beliveau.  Fahmy was forced to the bench and when the son of Souhegan football coach Mike Beliveau rattled in a pair of free throws it was 27-25 Bulldogs and the Sabres faithful were really starting to get loud.  Unfortunately for Souhegan, just seconds later, Meservey hit another dagger 3 that swelled the lead back to 5 at 35-30.  That kicked off an 8-0 run for the Bulldogs that resulted in a 10 point lead, 35-25 that ultimately was too much for Souhegan to overcome. 

The Sabres whittled it down to 5 by the end of the 3^rd quarter thanks to a hoop by James Sheldon(Sabres 2^nd leading scorer with 5) and a Simmonds three, but McManus(14 points) opened the 4^th quarter with back to back hoops to extend the lead back to 9 at 39-30.  A big part of the problem for Souhegan was that 20 ppg scorer Brandon Len, didn’t score a single point until there was just 2:39 left in the game.  The standout junior point guard didn’t hit a field goal all game long and finished with 2 points on 2 FT’s in the loss that ended Souhegan’s season. 

After the game, when I commented to Sabres coach Mike Heaney that they just didn’t look anything like the same high scoring team that had gone 16-2 to earn a number 4 seed in the tournament the coach came right out and said they weren’t the same team.  “Let’s be real fair here though”, Heaney said.  “We were missing 2 guys who start and get 15 rebounds and 15 points a game…and before the game I didn’t say a word.  I could care less, but after the game you gotta be a little fair.”  “How many teams are gonna play the 5^th seed in the division down 2 starters and with 4 minutes to go it’s a 2 possesion game?”  Heaney went on…“I’m proud as hell, I didn’t think we were off our game at all.  The guys could have played better, sure they could’ve.  We had other guys come off the end of the bench and give their heart and soul.  I got no complaints about my guys.”  When asked why they were down 2 starters, Heaney would only say “I lost a couple guys on team rules.”  The 2 players the coach was talking about were 6’4” senior forward Ben Peterson and 6’3” senior forward Shaun McKenna who also missed the preliminary round win over Hollis-Brookline for the same infraction.  Neither was seen on the bench last night.    

Back to Bedford and Meservey’s breakout performance, when I asked coach Langlois if maybe Meservey is under the radar because of all the attention the Bedford bigs get, the coach said,  “No, not really”, to which I responded that maybe I should start going to more Bedford games.  I’ll get the chance to do just that on Wednesday night when the Bulldogs take on top seeded Hanover in the D2 semi-finals at UNH.      

Box Score

Bedford

Collin McManus 14

Cameron Meservey 19

Trevor Fahmy 13

Trevor Glassman 1

Roger Larrivee 2

Souhegan

Zack Simmonds 16

James Sheldon 5

Tim Beliveau 4

Tyler Ford 3

Jake Kennedy 2

Tony Barksdale 2

Sean McGrath 2

Brandon Len 2