DURHAM — There were no excuses from No. 1-seed Pelham yesterday afternoon after dropping a 61-48 decision to Portsmouth in the Class I championship game.

The way the gritty Pythons (21-4, 20-2 in Class I) hung in there with Portsmouth until the closing moments before more than 3,000 fans at UNH's Lundholm Gym, despite the severe hand injury to star guard Justin Hojlo (28.0 scoring average), there was no need for excuses.

And head coach Todd Kress wasn't offering any.

"We made a great run at them, and I definitely thought we were good enough to beat the best team," said Kress. "We did that for 27 minutes, but they made all the shots at the end and we didn't."

Indeed, after a superb third quarter gave Pelham a 37-36 lead, thanks to some fine playmaking by Hojlo (eight assists to go with 10 points), and inside scoring from Stephen Spirou (14 points) and Michael Lombard (11 points), Pelham trailed by only one, 44-43, with four minutes remaining in the game.

But that's when Portsmouth senior guard John Mulvey and the rest of the Clippers heated up.

Mulvey, who averages 21 points a game but missed his first seven shots of the game, scored seven straight points to give the Clippers a 51-44 cushion they were able to ride to their first-ever Class I crown. Their last title was 1984 in Class L.

Mulvey, the son of head coach Jim Mulvey, finished with 15 of his game-high 26 points in the final period.

"I knew we'd eventually start making shots," said Coach Mulvey. "Maybe some of it was my fault in the first half. I was keyed up and they were feeding off me.

"I told John not to rush his shots so much and he finally started making them. All the kids did. The only problem was that I thought Pelham might score as much as we would."

In a low-scoring first quarter, Pelham took a 9-6 lead. While junior guard Sean Sweeney made two of his first five shots for five points to lead the way for the Pythons, Portsmouth was a dismal 2 for 11.

Both teams struggled in the second quarter, but three 3-pointers gave the Clippers a 17-15 lead at halftime.

That's when Kress decided that a change in tactics was necessary.

"Justin said at halftime that he thought he could penetrate and feed our other guys and we wanted to get Stephen and Michael more involved," said Kress.

By spreading out the floor and allowing Hojlo to control the game, that's exactly what happened as the Python sophomores combined for 14 points in that frame.

But Portsmouth responded with a box-and-one on Hojlo to slow down the Pythons and then began hitting shots at will.

"I thought that was a big key for us," said coach Mulvey, whose sixth-seeded Clippers beat No. 3 Oyster River in the quarterfinals, No. 2 Pembroke in the semifinals and No. 1 Pelham yesterday. "Hojlo is a great player — I think he's the best player in the state — and he was slicing us up. When we put Michael (Montville) on him, I thought that turned things around for us."

The Clippers eventually went back to a zone, but no outside shots fell for Pelham the rest of the way, making it impossible to catch up.

Hojlo finished 0 for 10 from beyond the arc for the game and the entire team was just 3 for 17 from the floor in the fourth quarter, when the Pythons were outscored 25-11.

"We just didn't have the outside threat in the second half, but we gave it our best shot," said Kress. "You've got to give Portsmouth all the credit."

Portsmouth 61, Pelham 48

Class I championship

Pelham (48): Sean Sweeney 2-0-5, Grant Hebert 1-0-2, Stephen Spirou 4-6-14. Justin Hojlo 3-4-10, David Wesson 2-0-4, Josh Boissonneault 1-0-2, Conor McColgan 0-0-0, Michael Lombard 3-5-11. Totals 16-15-48

Portsmouth (61): Michael Fransoso 3-0-7, Zach Abrams 2-4-8, George Tsougranis 3-5-11, John Mulvey 7-7-21, Michael Barton 3-0-7, Michael Montville 1-0-2, Billy Lane 0-0-0, Riley McCarthy 0-0-0. Totals 19-16-61

3-pointers: Pe — Sweeney; Po — Fransoso, Mulvey 5, Barton

Portsmouth (16-6 Class I):6âÇ11âÇ19âÇ25 — 61

Pelham (21-4, 20-2 Class I):9âÇâÇ6âÇ22âÇ11 — 48