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Lancers pull off upset again

MERRIMACK — The number 13 couldn't be any luckier for Londonderry.

As the 13th seed last year, the Lancers traveled to Manchester and took Central out of the Class L tournament. This year, No. 13 Londonderry shook off a regular season loss to Merrimack less than a week ago and bounced the No. 4 seed, 53-47, last night in first round action.

Now at 9-10 on the season, the Lancers will travel to Bishop Guertin Saturday for a quarterfinal encounter.

"We played not to lose last Friday," head coach Jeff Gustavson said of the 11-point setback that ended the regular season. "We had two points in the fourth quarter, missed layups and had bad turnovers, little things that, if done right, make a difference.

"(Last night) we played to win, even when we were down. We had confidence and made more plays."

Leaning on the core of the squad that made last year's upset happen — seniors C.J. Flanders and Matt Sanborn along with junior Mike Colby, the Lancers stayed strong after falling behind by nine points early, bouncing back for a one-point halftime lead.

"Those three said, 'We're not losing, we're not losing,' and that got younger kids like junior Ian McMullen involved positively," Gustavson said.

With Londonderry clinging to a one-point lead in the fourth quarter, and with Colby and his 17 points benched with five fouls, Flanders (9 points) drained a clutch 3-pointer and Sanborn hit a pair of pressure-packed free throws. When Merrimack sliced the gap in half on a trey, foul line heroics from Flanders, Sanborn and McMullen stemmed the tide.

Senior Jake Finnegan was a beast on the boards with a season-high 20 rebounds to go along with 10 points.