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Londonderry season ends in quarterfinals for sixth straight year

Saturday, March, 13 By Jeff Hamrick

NASHUA, N.H. — The Londonderry boys have advanced to the state quarterfinals each of the past six years. And for the sixth straight time, the Lancers’ state playoff run has ended without a trip to the Class L final four.
Held to only one field goal in the opening period, the 13th-seeded Lancers fell to fifth-seeded Bishop Guertin 64-39 before a full house last night.
The Cardinals (16-5) never let Londonderry find its bearings, as BG used nine different players in the first quarter. And with its stifling full court pressure it forced the Lancers (10-13) to miss nine of 10 field goal attempts.
“We knew coming into the game they’d be coming at us in waves,” said Londonderry coach Jeff Gustavson, who filled in this season for veteran coach Jim Zorbas, who took a year sabbatical. “We thought we needed to slow the game down in order to have a shot. We tried it at times, but the kids I think just got frustrated that they weren’t making shots. And a lot of those missed shots led to easy points by them.”
Sean McClung had 11 of his 15 points in the first quarter as BG raced to a 20-4 advantage.
“We’ve been doing that all year,” BG coach Jimmy Migneault said. “I have such a deep bench, and I can play them all. What it does is gets to the other team’s legs. We hit you in runs.”
The Cardinals forced Londonderry to spend most of the first half on the perimeter, and the Lancers responded by making only two of their 14 attempts from 3-point range. In addition, Londonderry committed 12 first-half turnovers.
“Turnovers have been a problem for us all year,” said Gustavson, whose team upset shorthanded No. 4 Merrimack in the opening round. “We’ve been relying on a bunch of guys handling the ball for us. There are quarters when we don’t turn the ball over, and we’re obviously a much better team when we don’t. But (BG) just comes after you with relentless pressure, and it wears on you.”
Londonderry did score the first seven points of the second quarter, cutting its deficit to nine, but the Cardinals once again turned up the pressure en route to a 30-17 advantage at intermission. BG removed any doubt with a 15-5 run to open the second half.
The Cardinals, who had 11 players score at least two points, took their biggest lead of the game — 51-26 — with 6:04 left.
Michael Colby and Matthew Sanborn each scored nine points to lead Londonderry while Jake Finnegan and Jeff Bintz each added seven.
Bishop Guertin, which received a game-high 16 points from Connor Green, advances to Wednesday’s 4 p.m. semifinal at the University of New Hampshire against top-seeded Winnacunnet.

Bishop Guertin 64, Londonderry 39
Class L quarterfinals
Londonderry (39): Michael Colby 3 2-2 9, Matthew Sanborn 2 5-5 9, Jake Finnegan 2 3-4 7, C.J. Flanders 1 0-1 3, Jeff Bintz 1 5-8 7, Nick Martinez 0 2-3 2, Ian McMullen 1 0-0 2, Eric Doucette 0 0-0 0, Troy Mansfield 0 0-0 0, Zachary Champa 0 0-0 0, Tyler Ball 0 0-0 0, Jared Schwalbe 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 17-23 39.
Bishop Guertin (64): Scott St. Lawrence 3 2-3 8, Ryana Turner 1 0-0 2, Luke Lavash 3 0-0 9, Connor Green 5 5-5 16, Sean McClung 5 4-5 15, Kyle Coumas 1 1-2 3, Nicholas Pyzocha 1 0-0 2, Michael Kelly 0 2-4 2, Stephen Cuippa II 1 0-0 3, Kyle Remillard 0 0-0 0, Trent Fontanella 1 0-0 2, Jack Kelly 0 0-0 0, Daniel Folger 0 2-2 2, Chris Lamb 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 16-21 64.
3-pointers: L — Colby, Flanders; BG — Lavash 3, Green, McClung.
Londonderry (10-13):     4 13  9 13 — 39
Bishop Guertin (16-5):    20 10 17 17 — 64