NEW BEDFORD — New Bedford junior Jordyn Correia was determined to give his Whalers a lift in the fourth quarter.
He did. Literally.
Correia threw down two ferocious dunks in the final six minutes, helping the eighth-ranked Whalers hold off No. 11 Wareham, 73-68, in a nonleague regional thriller at Beardsworth-Goncalves Gymnasium (where the court is named after Ed Rodrigues, now the Wareham AD).
“Some of them play AAU together,” said New Bedford coach Matt Hill. “They play street ball together. Some of them train together. That was a nice little game. They gave us a lot. They’re a talented team. It was fun.”
Correia finished with just 6 points, but his transition dunk with 5 minutes, 50 seconds to play gave New Bedford (9-2) a 5-point lead and was followed seconds later by a dunk from Christian Patterson (24 points) as New Bedford built a 7-point cushion.
“Those electric moments are huge,” Hill said. “That’s why Jordyn picks the team up so much. He brings the energy, he gets deflections.”
Two huge dunks tonight from @nbhighsports junior Jordyn Correia, who helped spark the No. 8 Whalers in the fourth quarter to a 73-68 win over No. 11 Wareham. pic.twitter.com/vex2yNKLmm
— Brendan Kurie (@BrendanKurie) January 29, 2026
But a tenacious Wareham squad (10-3) quickly evaporated that cushion and took a 64-63 lead with 2:42 left on a layup from Amare Rose (19 points).
This time it was New Bedford freshman Camden Hill (24 points) who answered, putting the Whalers back in front with a layup. Correia threw down one more gym-rattling dunk, and senior captain Diego Montanari (9 points) added one of his own to seal the victory.
“It felt good,” Camden Hill said. “We worked hard. We had a week off with snow. We came in and played our butts off and won. It means a lot.”
The Whalers had a sizeable advantage down low and took advantage in the early going, building a 9-point lead midway through the second quarter. But Wareham senior Aaron Cote (game-high 30 points) scored 7 straight points to spark a 16-4 run and the Vikings took a 36-35 lead into halftime.
Montanari nabbed a steal and made a layup to open the third quarter, and New Bedford led for the next 13 minutes.
“It’s a great feeling,” Montanari said. “They have a really good team and that’s a big win for us.”
Brendan Kurie can be reached at brendan.kurie@globe.com. Follow him on X @BrendanKurie.