Winnacunnet boys basketball starts fast, keeps rolling in win over Bishop Guertin (video)

NASHUA - Jay McKenna wondered just what the Winnacunnet High School boys basketball team would look like Wednesday night against Bishop Guertin.

The Warriors hadn't played in five days, and hadn't been able to practice in two, but when the ball went up, they knew just what to do.

Winnacunnet raced out to a 9-0 lead early and led 19-4 after the first quarter, then held off a run by Bishop Guertin in the second half, on the way to a 76-56 win over the Cardinals in Division I action.

"You’re a little nervous as a head coach (when) it’s a different day," McKenna said of the game, which was rescheduled from Tuesday. "We were a little out of rhythm because we didn’t practice (Tuesday). It was a great effort. We’ve got a really smart group.

"Our starting five is pretty smart, they’re good offensively, they can come at you in a few different ways. We were making our shots and our guys are good at recognizing mismatches, or if they made a defensive mistake, we were good at taking advantage of it. That’s the benefit of having smart kids."

Zachary Waterhouse scored a game-high 25 points for the Warriors, which included going 15 of 17 from the free throw line, and Jake Schaake was also in double figures with 16 points. Travis Arsenault, Benjamin Allen and Matthew Doyle also added eight points apiece.

Winnacunnet (6-1) limited Bishop Guertin to two field goals and forced six turnovers in the first quarter, and every time it looked like the Cardinals (1-6) might turn the corner, the Warriors came back to extend the lead a little further, taking a 32-19 advantage into halftime.

"We can’t get down 19-4 to a very good team and expect to win a basketball game," Bishop Guertin coach Matt Regan said. "We need to do a better job starting off basketball games. I thought the second group that went in actually played hard and played well. It’s a lot of young kids and they seem to be meshing well together, which is always good to see as a coach. But we can’t relying on freshmen and sophomores to be carrying us. Our older guys have to do a better job."

The Cardinals got 13 points, including three 3-pointers, from Austin Hiscoe while John Begley had 10 points and Tommy Fontanella and Yannis Nyantengi each added seven.

Despite its struggles, Bishop Guertin was able to get the lead down to 10 points in the third quarter, making it 44-34 Winnacunnet on a putback by Joe Noon with 1:16 left in the frame.

But the Warriors were able to break the Cardinals' press and Wesley Falzarano hit a 3 from the far corner to start Winnacunnet on a 7-0 run in the minute of the third to make it 51-34 going into the fourth.

"They’ve got great coaches and talented kids, and we knew they’d come at us," McKenna said. "It was just about withstanding that run and our guys have done a nice job with that. We don’t get too excited one way or the other."

Two 3s by Andrew Lussier midway through the fourth quarter helped Bishop Guertin cut the lead back down to 14 points, but Winnacunnet found ways to consistently beat the Cardinals pressure for layups at the other end. The Warriors went 6 of 8 from the line down the stretch - and shot 26 of 34 for the game - to put the game away.