Cardinals survive Raiders to advance to semifinals

NASHUA – At full strength, the Bishop Guertin High School boys basketball team has been unstoppable.

Over the Cardinals’ previous 13 games, they’d outscored their opponents by an average of 20.2 points. No surprise that Bishop Guertin had won all 13 of those games.

Spaulding became victim No. 14 on Friday in the Division I quarterfinals, but the Cardinals had to sweat out the victory, needing some late heroics to close out a 62-59 victory over the Red Raiders.

Connor Green scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while Joe McCarthy added 11 points, including three 3-pointers, no bigger than the one that gave top-seeded Bishop Guertin (18-2) the lead for good with 2:40 to play.

“Joe McCarthy played a big game,” Bishop Guertin coach Jim Migneault said. “Connor Green came up big.”

Neither played during the Cardinals’ regular-season loss to the Raiders on Jan. 14, which was the last time Bishop Guertin lost a game. On Friday, it was Green’s toughness inside and McCarthy’s big-shot capability – he hit only four, but all came at key moments – that helped the Cardinals advance.

Nick Pyzocha added 12 points for Bishop Guertin and Sean McClung had nine while Spaulding (12-8) got 15 from Ian Christie and 14 from Brian Cronin.

While neither team was spectacular from the free throw line – Spaulding made 58 percent, BG just 46 – the Cardinals ability to control the defensive glass limited the Raiders’ offense.

“We really did a good job on the defensive boards all night,” Migneault said. “The first time we played them, we didn’t. Tonight we did. I’m happy with that.”

Perhaps the only possession the Cardinals didn’t control the defensive glass was the one that counted most.

After Bishop Guertin held a slim lead for most of the second half, Spaulding went ahead 57-56 with 3:15 left on a layup by Cronin. Before that, the Cardinals had turned the ball over on their three previous possessions, but on the next one, McCarthy hit a 3 to give his team a 59-57 lead with 2:40 to play.

Spaulding turned the ball over on the inbounds and a layup by Green was matched by a layup from Christie to keep it a two-point game.

The Cardinals had three chances to put the game away from the free throw line, but missed the front end of a one-and-one each time. Bishop Guertin got the rebound on the first two, but Spaulding controlled the third with 25.7 seconds to play.

With seven seconds left, Nick MacGregor got an open look from 3 for the Raiders, but his shot was off. The rebound went long to Cronin, but his turn-around jumper with four seconds left was also off the mark and the ball went out off Spaulding.

“That one, we played good defense and we got them to do what we wanted,” Migneault said. “They took an off-balance shot from the outside, which is what we were trying to get them to do.”

Logan Kesty added a free throw to make it a three-point game and a last-second heave by Spaulding was off the mark.

The Raiders had their biggest lead of the game in the first quarter, when they were up 13-8 with 3:05 left in the frame. It didn’t last long, as the Cardinals went on a 13-0 run and led by eight at the end of the quarter.

Bishop Guertin enjoyed a comfortable lead for most of the half, but Spaulding was able to cut it to five before halftime. The Raiders took the lead in the third quarter with a 6-0 run in which Cronin scored all of Spaulding’s points.

But after the Raiders went up 44-43, Green and McCarthy hit back-to-back 3s and McClung added a putback to make it a 51-44 lead for the Cardinals. Spaulding didn’t go away after that run, cutting the lead to three at the end of the third and trailing by no more than that for most of the fourth quarter.

“They made some big shots,” Migneault said. “The Christie kid hit a couple of big ones. They were playing defense and making their shots. They’re a good team and they play hard.”

The Cardinals advance to the semifinals for the second straight year, where they will face No. 4 Manchester Central, which defeated No. 5 Salem 57-55 in triple overtime. Bishop Guertin and Central will play at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday at UNH.