NASHUA – Sean McClung stood at the free throw line, needing to do something his Bishop Guertin High School boys basketball team had struggled to do all night – make two free throws.
The senior hit the first one to cut Merrimack’s lead to one, but the second bounced off the rim and into a pile in the lane. The jump ball went to the Tomahawks, and Matthew Hardwick made two free throws at the other end to finish off Merrimack’s 58-55 victory over Bishop Guertin in Class L action at the Colligadome on Friday night.
McClung finished with 25 points, including three 3-pointers, for the Cardinals (6-2) to lead all scorers but it was Dimitri Floras, who scored 20 for Merrimack, and Eric Watson, who added 11 markers, who saw their team remain undefeated (8-0).
“This was a great high school experience for young men,” Merrimack coach Tim Goodridge said. “From the onset, this had the billing to be an incredible game, and quite honestly, it turned out to be an incredible game.”
For a game between two of the top teams in Class L, there was just as much news off the court as there was going on it.
The schools posted attendance instructions on their respective Web sites on Wednesday, letting fans know the doors would open at 5 p.m. and a limit of 750 people would be allowed into the gym.
Merrimack students started showing up a little before 3 p.m., and by 4:30, there was a line of about 75 students outside the gym. When the junior varsity game started, the bleachers were already full.
“We came in on the bus at quarter of five tonight and there’s hundreds of people out there,” Goodridge said. “I thought I was on American Idol the way they were screaming. Kids painted their faces. They were just phenomenal.”
But that wasn’t the only story. The Cardinals were not only without Connor Green, who is expected to miss at least two more weeks with an ankle injury, but also coach Jim Migneault. Bishop Guertin athletic director Tony Johnson had no comment on the coach’s absence.
On the court, things went wrong for the Cardinals from the start. Bishop Guertin missed its first nine shots and fell behind 12-2 halfway through the first quarter.
Although the Cardinals cut the lead to seven before the end of the period, the Tomahawks controlled the start of the second as well. Merrimack used a 12-1 run in the first half of the quarter to go up 30-12.
Bishop Guertin cut the lead to 11 before halftime, but was down 14 after a 3-pointer by Watson with 5:47 to play in the third quarter.
And that’s when the Cardinals made their run.
Both teams had scoreless possessions before McClung nailed a 3-pointer to cut the lead back to 11. A Floras basket at the other end made it 42-29 with 4:39 in the quarter, but that would be all the Tomahawks would get until only 9.6 seconds were left.
Bishop Guertin went on a 12-0 run to turn the 13-point deficit into a 42-41 Merrimack lead.
“There was one huddle, we were kind of chirping at each other and Scott St. Lawrence, our captain who I’m really proud of, said look, we’ve got to come together and stop chirping,” said Bishop Guertin coach Marty Edwards, who was filling in for Migneault. “That’s what they did and that’s when the momentum changed.”
A three-point play by Tyler Gendron put Merrimack back up by four as the quarter came to an end. The Tomahawks scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter to push the lead to eight, but the Cardinals came back again.
“We had the upper hand early on and they came back with a tremendous run,” Goodridge said. “Honestly, it takes something from our kids to withstand something like that. That shows you that we have pretty good character. We did get rattled a little bit and there were some issues, but overall, we kept plugging and plugging.”
Merrimack almost didn’t plug enough. Despite the Tomahawks making 7-of-12 free throws down the stretch, the Cardinals had a chance to win thanks to 3-pointers by St. Lawrence and McClung, who made it a 55-54 game with 21.5 left.
Bishop Guertin sent Watson to the line with 17.3 seconds left. The Merrimack senior made the first, but missed the second and McClung came down with the rebound and brought the ball down the floor.
McClung drew a foul from Watson as he drove to the basket, and after a Merrimack timeout with 7.9 seconds left, he stood at the free throw line, needing to make both to tie the game at 56.
The first shot went down, but the second didn’t, one of 17 missed free throws for the Cardinals.
“Sometimes yes, sometimes no,” Edwards said when asked if foul shots were usually a problem for Bishop Guertin.
The Cardinals also were just 6-of-23 from behind the 3-point line, including 2-of-13 in the first half.
“We’re usually a little more disciplined on that,” Edwards said. “I want to see more passes first, see them rotate it and get the defense out of line so we have weak side offensive rebounding.”
Even with their shooting struggles, the Cardinals were still in a game that will be remembered for its level of intensity.
“Both teams exerted a tremendous amount of energy,” Goodridge said. “To have kids that play at that pace that we were playing in the first half … it was warm in there, and the intensity, to keep that going a whole 32 minutes is hard to do.”
Great write-up. I feel like I was at the game, you described it so well. Merrimack/GB girls game was exciting too with Merrimack being the victors! Go Tomahawks!