Bishop Guertin boys basketball comes back to beat Merrimack in OT (video)

NASHUA - The Bishop Guertin High School boys basketball team was on the verge of having the kind of offensive night that the Cardinals would just like to forget.

With less than two minutes to play, the scoreboard said the Cardinals had just 24 points, and even worse, they trailed Merrimack by seven.

But then Bishop Guertin made a shot, and another, and another, and all of a sudden, the Cardinals forced overtime. They carried that momentum into the extra session, ending the game on an 18-4 run to steal a 42-37 win from the Tomahawks in a Division I contest.

Dylan Santosuosso led the Cardinals (9-2) with 16 points, including the game-tying basket with less than 10 seconds to play in regulation. The junior added a block on Merrimack's final possession to send it to overtime, and then had six of Bishop Guertin's eight points in the OT.

"We just came out and realized we needed to step up," Santosuosso said of the late comeback. "A couple of my teammates hit some big shots that got us back in the game. It was a huge confidence booster, not just for the people who hit the shots, but the whole entire team. Everyone on the bench started getting involved, and the fans, too."

John Sullivan added nine points, including a pair of layups down the stretch that got Bishop Guertin closer, and Mason Carroll had six points, hitting a 3-pointer after Merrimack (8-3) had gone up seven points with 1:36 remaining in the game.

"I was happy with their composure at the end of the game," Bishop Guertin coach John Fisher said. "Of course I didn’t want to play down, but I was very happy with their composure. These guys, they’re good friends, they have good chemistry, and things like the backdoor cuts and knowing when to do the right thing, it comes with understanding each other’s games. I think we’re getting better every day, which is our goal."

After trailing for all but a few seconds in the first half, Merrimack got the lead early in the second half and held it until the final seconds of the fourth quarter. Adam Ellis had 11 points to lead the Tomahawks and Michael Johnson was also in double figures with 10.

But Merrimack was dealt a big blow early in the fourth, when Patrick Yudkin left the game with about six minutes remaining with what appeared to be an ankle injury; he didn't return.

"We were pretty solid the whole night defensively," Merrimack coach Tim Goodridge said. "Even when they were ahead early on, I think that’s what kept us in the game was defense. Then I thought we had the game won and then we just had a meltdown. Anything that could go wrong went wrong. It’s all correctable, I just think the kids, they didn’t know how to handle the situation.

"In fairness to my kids, we didn’t play a lot of guys. Yudkin got hurt and he’s going to be out. We’re not deep, so some of those kids’ tongues are hanging out. It’s not fair to them, but we don’t have a lot of depth."

The game opened without any scoring, as the teams combined to miss the first six shots before a 3-pointer by Carroll started the scoring with 3:36 to play in the first quarter. The Cardinals led 7-2 at the end of one and 11-4 less than two minutes into the second quarter.

Merrimack went on an 8-1 run to tie the game at 12, and the Tomahawks went ahead, 15-14, on a pair of free throws by Johnson with 22.5 seconds left in the half. But a buzzer-beater by Santosuosso gave Bishop Guertin a 16-15 lead going into the locker room.

"He’s been huge for us," Fisher said of Santosuosso. "He was a little under the weather before the game. Normally, he starts, but we didn’t start him. I said ‘it’s up to you.’ He’s just a gamer and he wanted to be in there, and he was. He made that happen for the team."

After the teams traded points to tie the score at 18, Merrimack to its biggest lead to that point, going up 24-19 on a putback by Johnson with 30.1 seconds left in the third quarter. But Santosuosso had an answer in the final seconds again, making it 24-21 Tomahawks at the end of three.

Baskets by Jack Tarleton and Ellis helped Merrimack take a 31-24 lead with 1:36 remaining, but Bishop Guertin found a way to claw its way back before winning in overtime.

"Merrimack is a tough, tough basketball team," Fisher said. "I feel very fortunate to get away with a win. They’re tough defensively, they shoot better than I think people give them credit for. I feel fortunate to get that win."