Lucas Baker scored seven of his nine points in the pivotal third quarter, leading Bishop Guertin over Londonderry on Tuesday night.

LONDONDERRY – Following an opening night loss to Goffstown and a rather lethargic first half on Tuesday evening, the Bishop Guertin boys hoop team realized that this delayed and oft-threatened season had indeed begun.

When that happened, the hosts from Londonderry High School simply didn’t stand a chance. Guertin, leading 25-24 at the break, put it into overdrive in the third, rolling off a 16-4 barrage to claim victory No. 1, 58-41.

“I’m happy with our play. Londonderry is a well-coached good team. I feel very happy with the way we played,” said Cards coach John Fisher, whose club kept the hosts at arm’s length with a lead of double digits throughout the fourth quarter.

“That was a big third quarter. Our tempo helped us. We turned it up, and we stopped turning the ball over, and then we were able to make some shots, which was really very helpful.”

Senior Lucas Baker was massive when it mattered in the frame, canning seven of his nine points in the third, basically turning a physical up-and-down battle into a fourth-quarter free throw shooting contest, which Guertin handled quite nicely (8 of 12 in the fourth).

“Lucas really had the game for us. I gave him the game ball,” said Fisher. “He’s a senior, has been playing well. I was very happy for Lucas.”

When the Cardinals shared the ball they were balanced and very good. When they ran, they were even better.

“We’re definitely a running team, but when we’re hitting shots it opens everything up,” Baker said.

Nate Kane paced the winners with 14 points, including a pair of 3s and a couple highlight-reel drives to the rack. Seniors Dylan Santosuosso and Jordan Robichaud pitched in 11 and 10, respectively. John Sullivan had eight.

“We played in the first half, we played fast. We were getting looks we wanted, but we just played really sloppy,” noted Baker. “Once we figured that out, came out with more momentum, it just flipped the script. We just kept playing good team basketball.”

The newcomers, Kane and sophomore Javari Ellison have seemed to mesh nicely for the Cardinals, providing an energy that Baker noticed almost immediately.

“Javari (Ellison) and Nate, I think, are exactly what we were missing. Both are lights-out shooters, but they also bring defensive intensity, length and basically everything we needed on this team,” said Baker. “I love those guys. I love this whole team, and I really think we can win it all this year.”

The coach added, “The new guys fit in great, but we’ve known these all their lives. They’re kids that our kids have played with their whole lives, and they fit right in.”

Guertin now faces a big stretch for the early season with three home dates in five days beginning with Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. tip with Bedford. Friday, Londonderry makes the return trek to Lund Road, and Monday night, Pinkerton Academy comes to town.

“We came out a little rusty. We’re a new group, so it takes time to really get everything going. Once we get everything going, I don’t really think anybody can stop us,” said Baker.

“I think this is the best team BG’s had in a long time. We’ve got talent across the board. We’ve got height. We’ve got ball-handling. We’ve got shooting. There really isn’t a weakness on this team. We’ve just got to come together.”

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