by Michael Leonard

Sports Editor

Warrensville Heights -- The Bedford boys basketball team played a solid game on the road Feb. 22 at Shaker Heights to close out its regular season.

Bedford's offense hit on all cylinders against the Red Raiders, according to Bearcats coach Everett Heard. The result was an uptempo 81-68 win.

However, members of the Brecksville-Broadview Heights squad -- Bedford's opening playoff opponent -- were in attendance as well. After seeing the contest, Heard said he had a feeling his squad might face a slow-down strategy from the Bees in their playoff opener Feb. 19.

"We thought they were going to hold the ball against us," Heard said.

The Bees' deliberate strategy made Bedford work for every basket in the first half, but the Bearcats were able to run out enough to score a 51-32 win in a Division I sectional game at Warrensville Heights.

Bedford improved to 15-6 with the win.

Bedford will play the winner of the John Adams-Euclid contest at Warrensville Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m. Results from the Rebels-Panthers game were not available at press time.

Heard admitted he didn't think Brecksville would slow the game down as much as they did, but said it was a solid strategy for Brecksville to do so.

"It's frustrating because people come to a basketball game to see buckets scored," Heard said. "Some of my friends think there should be a 45-second shot clock in high school basketball. But that's the strategy they chose and you have to face all sorts of strategies if you want to win the state title."

How deliberate were the Bees?

In the first quarter, Brecksville only attempted three shots and the Bees were able to rebound to keep Bedford at bay.

The result was a 4-4 score after one quarter as two layups by forward Robert Johnson accounted for Bedford's scoring.

Bedford's fans let Brecksville know what they thought of the strategy with a chrous of boos early in the second quarter. Bearcat guard Randal Holt admitted he was agitated by the move.

"It was frustrating because we like to get out and run," Holt said. "We had to speed the game up a little to get it up to our tempo."

Bedford did speed the game up by turning to its "Green" full-court press and "50" half-court press. The game loosened up as a result, with Bedford taking advantage of some trips to the foul line.

Still, the Bearcats' lead was only 21-12 at halftime.

"We were able to get a little uptempo and were able to get a lead in the second quarter," Heard said. "If we get a lead, I don't care if they hold the ball."

A combination of Brecksville's tactics, three trifectas from the Bees and some turnovers from the Bearcats slowed the paced down again in the third quarter. Bedford led 30-21 after three quarters as Johnson seemed to be the only Bearcat capable of pushing the pace.

Bedford's offense finally got working in the fourth quarter as the Bees appeare to tire a bit. Bedford was able to get some fast-break points to push the lead to as much as 20 midway though the quarter.

The final dagger from the Bearcats came with about two minutes left in the game. After stealing the ball, Holt threw the ball off the backboard and Johnson dunked it home.

Both benches emptied not long after the highlight dunk.

Johns led all scorers with 14 points. Bedford center Reggie Keely had 13 points, but had an off night with several turnovers and a missed dunk in the fourth. Guard Reggie Lewis chipped in 10 points.

In the game against Shaker, Bedford was able to get some early offense and control the game from there.

The Bearcats leapt out to a 24-15 lead after one quarter, thanks to some three-pointers from Holt. Bedford pushed the lead to 43-30 at halftime and was in cruise control from there.

Holts led all scorers with 25, while Lewis had 19, Keely had 16 and and Johnson had 15.

Red Raider forward Darius Minor had 23 points in a losing effort.

E-mail: mleonard@recordpub.com

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