Coppola produces as Watertown marches on

Give Anthony Coppola space and he'll give you regrets.

The Bedford Buccaneers learned this the hard way in yesterday's MIAA Division 3 North final when the Watertown guard pulled up in transition just behind the 3-point line and hit his second and final 3-pointer, giving Watertown a 7-point lead with less than four minutes to play.

Bedford was kept at bay the rest of the way, and the Red Raiders went on to a 63-58 victory at Tsongas Arena, good for their first sectional championship in five seasons.

Watertown, completing its fifth sectional final visit in eight years, improved to 20-3 and will play South champ Medfield Tuesday at TD Banknorth Garden. Bedford, which started the season 1-5, finished 13-10.

Coppola, the Middlesex League MVP, finished with a team-high 20 points after back-to-back 30-point games earlier in the sectional run.

"I wanted the ball at the end there," Coppola said of his second trey, which put Watertown ahead, 52-45. "I saw my guy kind of backing off, so I decided to pull it. It felt good, right when it went off my hands."

Bedford coach Jim Byrnes suggested jitters may have had something to do with his team's sluggish start. But Bedford's full-court, man-to-man press gave the Raiders fits and forced a physical game in which 45 fouls were called -- 24 against Bedford, which had three players foul out. With all the rough-and-tumble in the paint and in transition, Watertown coach Stephen Harrington thought his troops set the tone with their defense, the catalyst being Stephen Keuchkarian (eight steals).

"He was phenomenal. I thought he was probably the player of the game," Harrington said. "I mean, his ability to get his hands in there, [he] stole a ton of balls, and he grabbed some rebounds. He's just tough as nails."

Bedford never led and trailed, 31-23, at the break, but had a chance in the second half when it used a 9-0 run to tie the game at 38. The run was capped by Dual County MVP Gerry Cohen (18 points, nine rebounds), who, after a Watertown timeout, stole the inbound pass and drove in for a layup.

But despite tenacity down the stretch from Terrance Favors (game-high 21 points, 10 rebounds), Bedford never was able to overtake Watertown. Coppola got hot, and Kyle Stockmal (15 points) made some free throws down the stretch to seal it.

The Raiders made 19 of 26 foul shots; the Bucs missed 11 of 18.

"We sure didn't help ourselves out with free throws," Byrnes said. "You can't do that in that type of a game."

South -- A swarm of Scituate fans clad in blue shirts stretched halfway across the gymnasium. The supporters screamed their hearts out, but their team couldn't come back from an 18-point first-half deficit in the South final.

Led by its all-time-leading scorer Jeff Altimar , Medfield pulled away for a 69-56 victory over the Sailors at UMass-Boston.

"To beat these guys you just have to survive," said Medfield coach Herb Grace. "They don't stop coming at you. Scituate is just an unbelievably talented team. They're playing a lot of guys and we aren't as deep as they are."

Nevertheless, Medfield (21-3) jumped out quickly, a 12-2 run forcing Scituate to call a timeout with 11:27 left in the first half. The Warriors capitalized on multiple turnovers in the early going.

Scituate (21-3) scored 13 points and picked up some momentum in the last five minutes of the half. The Sailors' 6-foot-6-inch Blaine O'Brien fired up his team when he sprinted down court after a steal and dunked, bringing Scituate within 33-23 at the break.

Scituate freshman Rodney Beldo (13 points, three steals) scored 6 consecutive points to bring the Sailors within 4 in the second half.

But Medfield regained control after a timeout with 8:47 to play. Chris Bonadies (17 points, 7 rebounds, 5 blocks) and Altimar (21 points) played vital roles down the stretch.

"We wanted to play tough 'D' against [Scituate]," said Altimar. "We got a big lead and knew we were going to get a little tired because they pressed us the whole game."

Globe correspondent Amanda Bruno covered the South final.