Souhegan boys basketball runs past Manchester West (video)

MANCHESTER - When things are going well, the Souhegan High School boys basketball has found ways to make it even better.

Against Manchester West on Monday, the Sabers got on a run in the first quarter, took a big lead into halftime and kept the Blue Knights at a comfortable distance.

The result was a 73-45 win over West, the fourth win in five games for Souhegan and the third time in that stretch the Sabers have scored 70 or more points.

"I think we’re gaining confidence as a group," Souhegan coach Peter Pierce said. "I think a lot of people scored and that helps, when everybody is involved and everybody is engaged. We’re scoring some points finally the last couple of games and that makes life easier.

"Our defensive effort was really good. I thought they were focused coming out of the locker room in terms of defense. That’s pretty good because (West) can score. I was happy with that."

Andersen Geffrard led the way for the Sabers (5-4) with 24 points, following up a 35-point effort last Friday in a win over Pelham, while Jordan Lau Quan added 16 points and Maxwell Leonard had nine.

After trailing 9-6 early on, the Sabers went on a 19-2 run and held West without a field goal for more than eight minutes. Geffrard had nine points during the run, including a 3-pointer that made it 25-11 early in the second quarter.

"At first, we started helping off the shooters and at the end of the first quarter we said no more helping, just had to play straight man-to-man," Geffrard said. "We got in transition a lot, which helped. It boosts us a lot. We get a lot of motivation, a lot of energy. It’s been working out well this season."

The loss was the sixth in the last seven games for West (3-6), which had stopped a five-game losing streak last Friday with a two-point win over Bishop Brady. But none of that momentum carried over into Monday.

"We have a tendency to forget what we’ve learned to do," West coach Justin Gorham said. "I think we played hard, but we didn’t play smart. You talk about things before the game and then they make those mistakes. There was no help defense at all and a lack of communication. Adversity for us is difficult right now. Something happens and we kind of fall apart."

Gob Gob led the Blue Knights with 13 points while Dante Connor, Daniel Jenkins-Mitchell and Isaac Nimely each added eight points.

The Blue Knights stopped Souhegan's big run with a 3 by Jenkins-Mitchell and a basket by Gob to get back within nine points, but Pierce called a timeout and the Sabers ended the half with a 10-5 run to lead 35-21 at halftime.

West was able to get within 12 points twice in the third quarter, but each time, Souhegan answered to keep the Blue Knights at a distance.

"You have to cut the lead," Gorham said. "At halftime, it was 14, and if we could cut it to seven, we’d have been in good shape, but we couldn’t. They got easy baskets and we did not. They ran their offense well, were passing and cutting, and we did not. "

Being able to answer another team's run has been a big difference for the Sabers during their streak of success.

"We answered, and that’s the difference with this team right now, against the teams we’ve been playing," Pierce said. "We’re able to respond. There will be nights when that doesn’t happen and things tighten up, and we’ll get a true look at our character."