Pinkerton boys basketball avenges loss to Londonderry in last year's D1 final (video)
DERRY - The Pinkerton Academy boys basketball team doesn't need extra incentive to get up for a game against Londonderry, but the Astros had some Monday night.
With the memory of last season's Division I championship game loss to the Lancers in the back of the players' minds, the Astros gave Londonderry several different looks on defense, which led to plenty of offense in a 74-51 win.
Matthew Rizzo led all scorers with 18 points while Thomas Romick added 17 for Pinkerton (9-1), which won its seventh in a row and its sixth game this season by 20 or more points. Joseph Merrill and Benjamin Olson also had 11 points each for the Astros, who were without Brennan Morris due to illness.
"Coming into this game, we were very excited to be playing against our rivals, especially after how that (championship) game ended," Rizzo said. "We wanted to come out strong and finish. We showed up (Monday).
"I think it's our defense. We build off our defense. When we're able to get steals and get out and penetrate their defense and kick it out and knock down shots. That's what we were able to do (Monday)."
Like Friday's win over Nashua North, Pinkerton played a back-and-forth first quarter with Londonderry (4-5) before taking control in the second, as the Astros started to mix up their defensive looks. Pinkerton led 16-15 at the end of the first and by seven, 31-24, at halftime before blowing the game open in the third quarter.
"The kids are able to play a lot of different defenses and that wears teams down," Pinkerton coach Pete Rosinski said. "You give them another look and another look. By the time you get to your sixth look, that's a lot.
"That's what we're doing. The thing is, our kids get comfortable with those defenses. You can run as many defenses as you want, but if the guys don't work together as five guys together, it will be all screwed up."
Jake Coleman led the Lancers with 13 points, but all but two of those came in the final five minutes of the game. Nate Gaw was also in double figures with 10 points while Cam Reddy added eight.
The Astros didn't go into the game with a specific plan to slow down Coleman, but rather one that Rosinski thought would keep him in check.
"Coming into the game, our thought was that they don't have a lot of depth," the coach said. "We're just going to try to pressure them, show them a lot of different types of defenses and we had at different times we'd be on him, and times we'd leave him alone."
Pinkerton's lead quickly grew to 10 points to open the third quarter, and a 15-4 run over the final 5:26 of the frame made it a 51-32 Astros lead going into the fourth.
The teams will meet again on Saturday in the second game of a varsity doubleheader at Londonderry. The girls teams will start at 1:30, with the boys to start around 3:30. While Pinkerton is off until then, Londonderry will head to Merrimack on Thursday.
