Bishop Guertin boys basketball gets roller coaster win over Nashua South

NASHUA - Ahead of their tournament matchup on Monday, the Nashua South and Bishop Guertin high school boys basketball teams played an exciting 32 minutes, and despite picking up the 55-39 win, it was probably a game the Cardinals would rather forget.

The Cardinals sprinted out early to a 16-2 lead, and it looked like a romp was in the making. But the Panthers stayed on course and wound up taking a 28-26 lead into the second half. Bishop Guertin eventually took the lead for good midway through the third quarter and pulled away in the fourth.

“Early on I think our defensive aggression was where it needed to be, and the shots were falling, too,” Bishop Guertin senior Dylan Santosuosso said. “I think we had some shots that were following, especially Lucas (Baker) right off the bat.”

Baker had eight of his 13 points in the first quarter to get the Cardinals out of the blocks.

“He’s been hitting his shots lately pretty consistently,” Bishop Guertin coach John Fisher said of Baker. “I was happy for Lucas. He’s a captain, team leader. He said some things at halftime. A couple of the seniors said let’s turn this thing around, this is not us. They knew what to do. They’re smart kids.”

Santosuosso had five of his game-high 14 points in the first quarter as well and Nate Kane added 11 points for the Cardinals.

The Panthers fought back and finished the last 11 minutes of the first half outscoring the Cardinals 26-10. Jeremiah Mitchell came off the bench to score seven points during the comeback.

In total, seven Panthers scored to help South take the lead at halftime. Mitchell finished with a team-high 10 points.

“South’s got a bevy of very good players,” Fisher said. “You catch them when they go on a run like they did and you’ve got problems. I’m lucky we were able to stop those runs.”

The Cardinals came out in the second half and flipped the script, outscoring South 24-7 over the final 12 minutes of the contest. Bishop Guertin was aided throughout by controlling the boards, especially on the offensive end. The Cardinals outrebounded South 10-3 on the offensive glass and found ways to turn those added chances into points.

He wasn’t the high scorer, but the Cardinals went as John Sullivan went. The senior guard was everywhere, as he had seven points but filled the sheet with 11 rebounds, four assists and a pair of both blocks and steals.

“Big hustle plays,” Fisher said of Sullivan’s performance. “He always covers the other team’s best player. There’s a reason he’s a Division I athlete. There’s a reason he’s going to West Point to play defense on lacrosse. He can cover anybody.”

The game was unique in that the teams will meet again Monday night on the same court in an opening round game of the Division I tournament. Despite the win, Santosuosso said that the team still has stuff to work on going into the open tournament next week.

“Trying to get the chemistry down still,” Santosuosso said. “We need to have people know they’re roles. We’ve got to start practicing on better shot selection.”