BY RYAN O'CONNOR

When the Pelham and Bow High School boys basketball teams met during the 2006 regular season, both teams entered the contest undefeated.

Though Pelham lost, 74-59, it avenged its lone defeat in a 66-53 triumph over Bow in the Class I title game.

This year’s game in Bow, on Tuesday, Feb. 6, featured two drastically different teams, but the result was the same – a Pelham victory, 49-43.

Bow entered the contest at 6-6 after losing much of its starting line-up from last year.

Pelham, which lost all five starters from last year’s championship team, won eight of its first nine games, then lost two in a row.

Last week, however, Pelham defeated Con-Val at home, 68-66, and trumped Hollis-Brookline on the road, 71-45, to improve to 10-3.

“On the road, being a young, inexperienced team, we have to do a better job of realizing, especially in the tournament, it’s four big efforts in a row in order to win a state championship,” said Kress.

The Pythons’ lack of experience showed early against Bow, which outsized them at virtually every position.

Bow took a 7-1 lead in the opening minutes, but Pelham’s up-tempo play allowed the Pythons to literally run away with the contest.

The hosts came back from 15 down to draw within five points during the fourth quarter, but faltered in the final minute of the game.

Though the Pythons were held to a season low 49 points, they, in turn, held most of the Bow players in check. Junior guard Brian Chergey and 6-foot-8 D.J. Poitras combined for 36 of the Falcons’ 43 points.

“It was definitely going to be a game of pace. Their only chance to be in the game was to slow us up, and they did a great job of doing that,” said Kress. “They were able to take us out of our running game, and they didn’t turn it over out on the perimeter, which is usually a key for us to take it the other way.”

Jamie Vaiknoras, a junior, came off the bench to contribute 11 points in the win.