ELIZABETH CITY – Bertie Head Coach Calvin Moore finally has seen what he wanted.

The veteran varsity boys coach at BHS said all season he wanted his team to learn to finish. They seem to have found out how to do just that during the Northeastern Coastal Conference tournament.

After upsetting third-seeded First Flight Tuesday evening, the Falcons rolled by number two Currituck 56-36 in the semifinal round Thursday.

“We are starting to play better as a team,” Moore said after his sixth-seeded club earned a third meeting with Hertford County High School in Friday’s finals. “We are making free throws and finishing games.

“We are making better decisions with the basketball,” he added. “We are getting the lead and holding on.”

Brandon Brown led the charge for Bertie, scoring 13 points, while Tyson Perry chipped in 11 and Travis Bond scored eight.

The Falcons wasted little time taking control of the basketball game Thursday, scoring eight of the first 11 points.

Brown started the scoring with an early hoop, but was answered by Pierre Friendly’s three-pointer for Currituck.

Curtis Moore then sandwiched a pair of hoops around a Perry bucket to help the Falcons break out to the 8-3 advantage.

After Dorian White’s free throw for Currituck, the Falcons got a hoop from Bond to push their lead to 10-4.

Currituck scored six of the next eight to close the gap to 12-10, but Brown and Keon Moore hit consecutive triples to end the first period with the Falcons ahead 18-10.

Perry started the second quarter for Bertie just like the first one ended, hitting a triple to push the advantage to 21-10.

While Friendly scored a three-pointer and deuce consecutively to close the gap to six (21-15), Wykevin Bazemore and Desmond Williams scored back-to-back to push the Bertie lead back to double digits (25-15). The lead was still nine (28-19) at the intermission.

After Friendly opened the third with a free throw, Perry hit from beyond the arc and Bond scored in the paint to help Bertie extend their lead to 33-20.

The lead slowly grew thanks to hoops by Moore and Brown until the Falcons led 38-26. Dequan Williams then had a pair of hoops and Bond scored again to push the Bertie lead to 18 (44-26) with one minute to play in the third period. They led 44-29 heading into the fourth after Friendly hit a late triple.

Perry’s free throw and hoops from Brown and Bond helped Bertie extend their lead to 20 (49-29) early in the fourth quarter and they kept that advantage through most of the period.

The win pushed Bertie to 8-15 for the season as they headed into Friday night’s Northeastern Coastal Conference championship game with archrival Hertford County. The Bears won the two regular-season matchups between the clubs.

Bertie (56): Brandon Brown n 13, Tyson Perry n 11, Travis Bond n 8, Curtis Moore n 6, Desmond Williams n 5, Keon Moore n 5, Dequan Williams n 4, Wykevin Bazemore n 2, Isaiah Allen n 2

Currituck (36): Pierre Friendly n 15, Dorian White n 7, Josh Everette n 6, Tim Vinick n 5, Nick Vinick n 2, Aaron Lindsey – 1