Nashua North boys basketball storms back in the second half to beat Bishop Guertin (video)

NASHUA - The Nashua High School North boys basketball team needed to make a halftime adjustment at both ends of the floor Friday night against Bishop Guertin.

Trailing by 12 points a minute into the third quarter, the Titans started to implement those changes, and for a long stretch of the second half, they worked.

North went on a 24-1 run over a span of more than 11 minutes, taking control of the game and holding off a late run by the Cardinals for a 55-46 win in a Division I contest.

Curtis Harris and Brenden Choate led the charge, scoring 17 and 16 points, respectively, while spearheading the defense for the Titans (7-1). After letting Bishop Guertin (3-6) repeatedly get to the basket in the first half, as the Cardinals led by as many as 12 points, North sought out a change on defense to shut those lanes down.

"We talked about it at halftime, to make the adjustment of not giving up so much dribble penetration," North coach Steve Lane said. "(Andrew Arika) was killing us, (Joey DaSilva) was killing us, dribble penetration was killing us. Kids like Brenden Choate, Curtis Harris, Nate Kane, adhered to the discipline of what we taught for a couple of days and didn’t give up dribble penetration and made them take tougher shots."

After the Cardinals scored two baskets in the first minute of the second half, going up 34-22, they would score just one point over the next 11:44. By then, North had turned a 12-point deficit into an 11-point lead, as a 3-pointer by Harris made it 46-35 with 4:10 left in the game.

"I think we had a stretch of some bad play," Bishop Guertin coach Matt Regan said. "We had some turnovers and missed layups and it just spiraled. I thought we made too many mental mistakes, and then, the Achilles’ heel all year, (missed) layups and free throws.

"I don’t know what it is. We work on them every day, it’s just not happening. We just have to keep working on it and trying to figure out what the answer is."

Arika came off the bench to lead Bishop Guertin with 11 points while Max Matarazzo added 10 points and DaSilva had seven, as the Cardinals were 14 of 24 from the free throw line.

Bishop Guertin got off to a great start, jumping out to a 7-2 lead, and going on a 10-3 run to take a 17-5 lead over the Titans early in the second quarter. North cut the lead to 19-13 on a pair of free throws by Harris, but the Cardinals outscored the Titans 11-6 over the next two-plus minutes to go up 30-19.

North's Gabriel Buxton made the first of two free throws with 21.1 seconds left in the half to cut the lead to 10 points, and the Cardinals controlled the rebound off Buxton's miss, but Harris was able to knock the ball away and score an easy layup to make it a 30-22 Bishop Guertin lead at halftime.

"We a couple of bad mistakes in the last 30 seconds of the first half. Instead of going in up 11, we went in up eight," Regan said. "And the third quarter has been killing us all year."

It didn't start that way, as DaSilva and Samuel Mullett had back-to-back drives to the basket to make it 34-22 just 38 seconds into the third quarter. North slowly started to chip away at the lead, getting a basket by Christopher Inzerillo and a 3 from Choate to get within seven points.

That started the Titans on a 12-0 run that saw them tie the game at 34 on a reverse layup by Joshua Lentz. Matarazzo made one of two free throws late in the quarter to give Bishop Guertin a 35-34 lead going into the fourth, but a three-point play by Harris and a 3-pointer from Choate gave North a 40-35 lead, its first of the night.

"The first half was really tough to score and that’s a credit to (Bishop Guertin)," Lane said. "The kids hung tough. We made two adjustments at half, as far as ball movement on offense and discipline on defense. They’re great kids. Making shots down the stretch helps."

A 3 from Harris with 4:10 remaining gave North a 46-35 lead, but Bishop Guertin started a comeback of its own after that. The Cardinals started getting to the line, making 6 of 8 to help them get within five points, 48-43.

After two free throws by Harris got the lead back to seven points, Matarazzo hit a 3-pointer to get Bishop Guertin within four points, 50-46, with 1:11 to play. The Cardinals got the ball back and Mullett was fouled with 45.8 seconds left, but the junior missed both free throws, while North made 5 of 6 in the final minute to put the game away.