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# Luongo helps lead Londonderry boys basketball's comeback win over Pinkerton
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/luongo-helps-lead-londonderry-boys-basketballs-comeback-win-over-pinkerton/
- Published: 2025-02-01T16:00:50.000Z
- Updated: 2025-02-01T16:00:50.000Z
- Description: DERRY – Matt Luongo was in the midst of a rivalry battle with Pinkerton Academy when the Londonderry High School senior got elbowed in the nose and subsequent bleeding occurred early in the third quarter of Friday night’s basketball game. After roughly eight minutes of game time, Luongo returned to
- Author: Dan Doyon
- Tags: Division I, boys basketball, Londonderry, Pinkerton, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

DERRY – Matt Luongo was in the midst of a rivalry battle with Pinkerton Academy when the Londonderry High School senior got elbowed in the nose and subsequent bleeding occurred early in the third quarter of Friday night’s basketball game.

After roughly eight minutes of game time, Luongo returned to the game with gauze jammed into his left nostril and made key plays down the stretch for the Lancers.

Luongo’s 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter gave Londonderry the lead for good as the Lancers propelled their way towards a 68-59 Division I victory over defending champion Pinkerton inside the Hackler Gymnasium.

“I felt great honestly,” Luongo said. “It felt like a little boost because we were down seven (points) when I came back and I knew we had to pick it up. I brought the energy and my boys rallied behind me.”

Luongo (13 points) followed his 3-pointer by taking a charge on the other end of the floor. He then drove to the hoop on the ensuing possession past Pinkerton’s Adam Ajouz to give Londonderry (7-4) a 61-56 lead with 1:16 left in regulation.

“The charge was the game-winning play,” Londonderry coach Jared Piecuch said. “He’s our rock. He’s the toughest kid we have. He comes to work every single day and he wants to win more than anybody.”

Londonderry’s leading scorer Mason Paquette (23.6 PPG) said that his team feeds off the emotion that his classmate and double-double machine brings to the game.

“He’s really our motor; he brings the energy every single day,” Paquette said. “It’s always good to have someone like that and I just love playing with him.”

Paquette started off slow on Friday but scored 21 of his game-high 27 points during the second half 10 days after eclipsing the 1,000-point milestone during a 75-66 win over Goffstown.

His second-half emergence was much-needed after junior Wilson Youseff (26 points) drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to complete a 19-10 third quarter for Pinkerton (5-7) to give the Astros a 46-41 lead entering the fourth.

Paquette, Evan Vago and Nate Marshall all had 3-pointers early in the fourth that were all matched by the sharp-shooting Youseff to tie the game at 56-56.

“I just felt like I needed to be a little more aggressive because I knew I needed to get going and I needed to help my teammates get going so we could go on a run,” Paquette said.

Paquette finished with 11 points in the fourth and iced the game by making all six of his free throws in the frame. He was 8 for 9 from the charity stripe.

“As a sophomore, he was strictly a 3-point shooter, and last year he showed flashes of getting to the rim and the free throw line,” Piecuch said. “We talked for years that if you want to score 20 points a night you’ve got to take eight-to-10 free throws a night.

“He’s taking 10 free throws a night. He’s a very strong kid and can take kids to the rim.”

Piecuch felt like Friday’s game was a pivotal win for his team entering its final four weeks of the regular season that begins with Tuesday's game at Windham (5-6).

“It was a really big win, we looked at it as our game of the year; that’s the way we approached it,” Piecuch said. “D1 is incredibly tough this year and we know that every 50-50 game is up for grabs. For them morally this was a really big game for them. Their morale is really up, which is great.”