Bishop Guertin boys basketball shows patience in win over Pinkerton

DERRY - The Bishop Guertin High School boys basketball team went into Thursday night's game against Pinkerton Academy with a defensive game plan.

It turned out, the Cardinals best defensive plays came while they were on offense.

Bishop Guertin was patient with the ball against Pinkerton's zone defense, particularly in the second half when the Cardinals lengthened their possessions, and held on for a 41-30 win over the Astros in a Division I contest.

Dylan Santosuosso and Nate Kane provided almost enough offense for Bishop Guertin (11-4), as Santosuosso had a game-high 18 points, including three 3-pointers, and Kane was also in double figures with 11 points, going 7 of 8 at the free throw line. The pair also combined to go 9 of 10 at the line in the fourth quarter to keep the Cardinals in front.

"I’m happy with the way we played defensively," Bishop Guertin coach John Fisher said. "I wish we could have hit more of the open shots. I’ve got to give it to (Pinkerton). They play hard, they’re tall, they make shots difficult. They close out well and they’re well-coached, disciplined kids. When a couple of their guys get older, holy cats, we’re going to have our hands full."

Drew Brander and Jackson Marshall each had eight points to lead the Astros (5-1), but no one else had more than three points.

Pinkerton had a 4-0 lead early, scoring twice in transition to open the game, but Bishop Guertin held a 9-6 advantage after one quarter and the Cardinals were able to do enough offensively against the Astros' zone defense to maintain the lead throughout.

"They’re not giving you a lane," Fisher sadi. "They have big guys standing there and they had four or five blocks in the first half. But they were giving us the kickout 3, and we did start knocking those down. That’s what we’ll have to do. If a team sits in there and double dares us to shoot, that’s what we’ll have to do.

"I think we’re getting better with that. I told the guys at halftime, I didn’t see a bad shot. I didn’t see a shot that we shouldn’t have taken. We’ve just got to make it."

Santosuosso had two of his 3-pointers in the first half to help Bishop Guertin take a 19-11 lead into halftime, and he and Kane scored 19 of the Cardinals' 21 points in the second half.

Back-to-back baskets by Santosuosso to end the third quarter put Bishop Guertin up 29-19 going into the fourth, but Pinkerton executed an alley oop from Anthony Chinn to Brander on the in-bounds pass to start the final quarter, and Brander hit a pair of free throws to make it a six-point game.

The Astros cut the lead to five points on a free throw by Justin Dunne with 2:19 to play, but Pinkerton, which started fouling with about four minutes to play, sent the Cardinals to the line for two shots the rest of the way. Santosuosso and Kane put the game away for Bishop Guertin at the free throw line.

"We wanted to make sure our shots were good shots," Fisher said. "Earlier in the season, we might have taken a couple just because, but I don’t think we did that."

Bishop Guertin will head to Merrimack for a 6 p.m. start Friday, while Pinkerton hosts Nashua South at 6 p.m.