The Wareham boys basketball team left the Old Rochester Regional High School gymnasium with an uncharacteristic 53-50 loss against its neighboring rivals on Saturday night.

For the second time in as many seasons, the Bulldogs beat the Vikings. Wareham, a perennial basketball powerhouse, has won the South Coast Conference title for the past eight years.

Before last year, the Vikings had defeated the Bulldogs for a decade.

“This was a winnable game,” said Coach Kevin Brogioli. “We knew it was going to be a nice, fun tournament-like atmosphere. Early on, I was very happy with our defense…It wasn’t a pretty offensive effort. [The Bulldogs] got it done and we didn’t.”

Saturday’s game was the second in a doubleheader that started with a match-up between the girls’ teams from both schools.

The boys’ game started well for the Vikings who kept the Bulldogs away from the basket early in the first quarter.

Both teams then went back-and-forth until the third quarter when Old Rochester went on an 8-2 run.

Down 42-32 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Vikings were unable to fend off another round of scoring from the Bulldogs, who pulled ahead 46 – 34 with about 3 minutes left of game time.

Wareham managed to close the gap in the final few minutes, but it was too little, too late.

Looking ahead, Brogioli said the team is going to work on correcting its “anemic” offense.

“We can’t afford to lose now,” he said. “If you want a chance at a league title you can’t go down two. If we don’t fix our offense it’s going to be a longer season than anticipated.”

The Vikings record is now 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the South Coast Conference.