Londonderry boys basketball gets out in front, holds off Alvirne (video)

HUDSON - The fourth quarter has been an adventure of late for the Londonderry High School boys basketball team, and not always in a good way.

But against Alvirne on Tuesday night, the Lancers were able to make a double-digit lead hold up.

Londonderry led by 15 points early in the fourth only to see Alvirne cut the lead to three in the final seconds before a pair of free throws by Dakota Bertrand put away a 67-62 victory over the Broncos in Division I action.

Jack Anderson scored 18 of his game-high 19 points in the first half and Bertrand had all but two of his 15 points in the second half while Cole Britting locked down defensively on Alvirne's Max Bonney-Liles. The Broncos senior had 12 points, going 6 of 6 at the free throw line and made all three of his field goals when someone other than Britting was guarding him.

"I thought we did a pretty good job against Max," Londonderry coach Nate Stanton said. "For three quarters, we once again put it together. The fourth quarter, I’ve really got to just go over in practice the situation stuff and how not to get frazzled.

"We hit foul shots at the end, so that’s a positive. But we gave up 22 points in the fourth. They’re a good team and they’re going to go on runs, you just don’t want it in the fourth."

The Lancers (8-5) were 5 of 7 at the line down the stretch, keeping them in front despite Alvirne hitting three 3-pointers in the final minute, including one by Ryan Ruigrok with under 10 seconds to play that made it a three-point game. The Broncos fouled Bertrand with two seconds left and the senior made both.

"We had a couple of turnovers, which weren’t good, but we made it up with some free throws," Britting said. "It was definitely a big win to get our confidence going."

Connor Lambert led Alvirne with 15 points, including three 3-pointers, to go with the dozen points from Bonney-Liles. Joe Canelas added nine points for the Broncos, who took the lead late in the second quarter before Londonderry closed the half on a 7-2 run and never gave up the lead again.

"We had a point where we had a lot of intensity, and we had some points where we lacked intensity," Alvirne coach Marty Edwards said. "I think that was telling for us. They hit some big shots at the end, and I told them I was proud of them for that. A couple of turnovers, a couple of free throws, and maybe it’s a different ball game."

Londonderry got out to an early lead and was up 19-14 at the end of the first quarter before Alvirne came back to tie the game at 22. A jumper by Bonney-Liles gave the Broncos a 26-25 lead with 3:36 left in the half, but Britting and Bertrand hit layups to give the Lancers a three-point lead.

Anderson added a 3-pointer but Bonney-Liles made two free throws with 18 seconds left in the half to cut Londonderry's lead to 32-28 at the break.

The Lancers opened the second half with an 8-2 run to take a 40-30 lead, and after the Broncos got back within five points, Londonderry closed the third quarter on another 8-2 run to lead 51-40 going into the fourth. Bertrand scored on the first possession of the quarter and a goaltending call on the Broncos put Londonderry up 55-40 with 7:06 to play.

Alvirne got back within in 11 points, 62-51, with 3:43 to play, and forced six Londonderry turnovers over the next three minutes, but couldn't take advantage until the barrage of 3s in the final minute.