Nashua North boys basketball rides defense to win over Bishop Guertin (video)

NASHUA - The Nashua High School North boys basketball team did a lot of good things Friday night against Bishop Guertin.

All of it started from the way the Titans played on the defensive end.

North held Bishop Guertin to just 17 points in the first half while building a double-digit lead at the break and the Titans had an answer for every run by the Cardinals in a 63-52 win in a Division I contest.

Chukweuemeka Okorie led the Titans (7-1), who won their sixth in a row, with 15 points, including three 3-pointers, and Nathan Lane added 13 points with three 3s of his own. Curtis Harris and Brenden Choate each had 12 points, as North hit nine 3s, two of which came in the first two minutes of the third quarter, after the Cardinals cut the lead down to 11 points.

"We had a bunch of big 3s in the second half," North coach Steve Lane said. "Emeka and Nate and Connor Dunning hit a bunch of big 3s, just to kind of put it to 14 (points) to make more comfortable.

"Defensively, I thought, that was the difference (Friday), especially in the first half, holding them to 17 points. I think our defensive effort set the tone for us getting easy buckets in transition and getting out and running."

Dylan Santosuosso and Samuel Mullett each scored 18 points for Bishop Guertin (7-2), who had their six-game win streak snapped. The pair combined to go 14 of 17 of the free throw line, but no one else on the team had more than five points.

"I wasn’t upset with the effort," Bishop Guertin John Fisher said. "(North is) a tremendously talented basketball team. They’re well-coached, they’re disciplined, and they played better than we did.

"I thought we relied a little too much on the outside shot, which works at home, doesn’t work so well on the road. I thought they played harder than we did both offensively and defensively."

North took an early lead, going up 10-4 midway through the first quarter, but Bishop Guertin got five straight points from Mullett to get within one. But as they did for most of the night, the Titans had an answer, closing the frame with a 6-0 run to lead 16-9 after one.

The teams traded points early in the second, with two free throws by Mullett getting Bishop Guertin within two, 18-16. But Okorie scored at the other end to start a 14-1 run to end the first half, giving the Titans a 32-17 lead at the break.

While Santosuosso and Mullett had combined for 12 of Bishop Guertin's points, Lane felt the Titans had done a great job of not letting anyone else beat them and of taking advantage of their own opportunities.

"Santosuosso and Mullett are good players," Lane said. "We were trying to contain them, keep them in front of us, challenge shots. They’re good players, they’re going to score. Other than that, I thought we did a nice job of defensive rebounding, taking care of the basketball on our end, and making shots when we needed to."

The Cardinals opened the second half with back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to 32-21, but Okorie and Kane each hit a 3 to give the Titans a 17-point lead. Santosuosso scored six straight points for Bishop Guertin to get it back to 11 points down, North had another answer, with a 3 by Dunning make it an 18-point game.

But this time it was the Cardinals' turn to answer, as a pair of quick baskets by Jordan Robichaud and Santosuosso started Bishop Guertin on a 13-4 run. Mullett scored to make it 49-40 North with 5:41 remaining, but the Titans scored the next seven points to go up by 16 points.

"It’s a good win, but we’re only a third of the way through this thing," Lane said. "It’s still early in the season, you’ve got to keep playing. There’s no night you can just show up. It just doesn’t happen."