WINDSOR – Bertie led at the end of three different quarters.

Hertford County led after the final one.

The varsity boys’ basketball team from Bertie played well enough to put a scare into Northeastern Coastal Conference leader Hertford County, but the Bears walked away from their arch rival’s gym with an 81-73 victory.

“We played hard for four quarters,” HCHS Head Coach Charles Simmons said. “Bertie came ready to play.”

The contest came down to the last four minutes and Simmons and his counterpart, Bertie Head Coach Calvin Moore, had differing feelings about how their team played over that stretch.

“We ran out half court sets at the end of the game and made our free throws,” Simmons said.

Moore wasn’t as pleased with the way his team responded.

“We just have to learn to finish games,” Moore said afterwards. “Hertford County did what they had to do to win. We are getting better. We just didn’t make the plays down the stretch.”

Bertie led 57-56 heading into the final quarter, but the lead didn’t last long as Shawn Reid scored for the Bears to give them the lead early in the fourth quarter.

After the teams exchanged the lead, HCHS got two scores from Lamar Monger to edge ahead 62-59.

Following a free throw from Bertie’s Brandon Brown and another Monger bucket, the Bears led 64-60, but the Falcons got two free throws and a triple from Brown to surge back into the lead at 65-64.

The Bears used free throws from Monger, Reid and Marcus Burnell to take the lead back and get out to a 69-65 advantage with 3:14 to play.

Bertie wasn’t done, however, getting back-to-back hoops from Desmond Williams and Tyson Perry to tie the game at 69-all with 2:34 to go.

Monger then hit two free throws and Deshawn Outlaw buried a three-pointer to give Hertford County a 74-69 advantage with two minutes to play.

Bertie got a Dequan Williams bucket with 1:43 to go, but didn’t get any closer as the Bears hit 3-of-4 at the line and added a Reid hoop to pull away for the win.

The game was a good one from start to finish no matter which team the fans were behind.

Hertford County opened up a 5-2 lead in the first quarter thanks to an Antonio Vaughan triple, but Bertie came right back with hoops from Travis Bond and Desmond Williams to lead 6-5.

The teams exchanged four-point spurts for the next five minutes and the Falcons managed a 16-15 lead after one quarter thanks to a late score by Anthony Murray.

The Falcons were able to extend their lead to six (23-17) early in the second period when Brown scored a triple immediately after a Perry hoop, but Hertford County used a 7-0 spurt midway through the quarter to tie the game at 29-all.

The teams exchanged scores for the rest of the quarter with Bertie taking a 39-37 lead at the intermission.

Hertford County tied the score to open the third quarter when Outlaw scored to make it 39-all.

The game was tied again at 43-all moments later and neither team was able to get more than a four-point edge (52-48 in favor of HCHS) throughout the quarter.

After the Bears had taken that four-point lead, Bertie got a hoop and a free throw from Murray and a basket by Curtis Moore to take a 53-52 lead. They held that one-point lead until the end of the quarter.

Each team was able to place four in double figures.

Hertford County was led by 25 points from Monger while Burnell had 16, Outlaw added 15 and Vaughan scored 11 points.

Bertie was paced by Brown’s 16-point effort while getting 14 from Perry, 12 from Desmond Williams and 10 from Murray.

The Falcons (2-4 in NCC) are off Tuesday while the Bears (13-2, 5-0) will be in Ahoskie to host Currituck.

HCHS (81): Lamar Monger n 25, Marcus Burnell n 16, Deshawn Outlaw n 15, Antonio Vaughan n 11, Shawn Reid n 9, Jordan Jones n 4, Jamal Jones n 1

Bertie (73): Brandon Brown n 16, Tyson Perry n 14, Desmond Williams n 12, Anthony Murray n 10, Travis Bond n 7, Dequan Williams n 6, Curtis Moore n 5, Chris Richardson – 3