Bishop Guertin's Nate Kane celebrates the Cards' 70-44 Divison I prelim win over Nashua North with teammates Luke Anderson (2) and Geoffrey Lynch (4) on Thursday night at North. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Maybe the best thing that happened to the Bishop Guertin High School boys basketball team this season was losing that overtime game to Nashua High School North last Friday.

That’s because it fueled the the Cardinals’ fire, and they turned up the heat big-time in a 70-44 rout of the Titans in the game that really mattered, a Division I/Region Four semifinal, on Thursday night at Titans Gym.

“After that overtime loss, every single day in practice we were locked in, no goofing around,” Cards senior and former Titan Nate Kane said. “We knew playoffs were coming, and we’re in our prime I think. The way you want to be in the tournament, playing our best.”

And when the Cards are at their best, they’re one of the toughest teams in the state to beat. They’ll visit another local, Alvirne, which beat Keene, on Saturday in the Regional Four finals/Division I quarterfinals.

“The better team played well tonight, the better team won tonight,” said Titans coach Steve Lane, his team’s nine game winning streak snapped and fine season abruptly done at 10-2. “They deserved it. They played super well tonight.”

It was no mystery how the 15-5 Cards blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter last Friday; they were tentative. Not so last night. They led throughout, 16-10 after one, 28-21 at the half, and then started shooting from the outside as well as beating the Titans to the hoop with quickness.

Kane hit a big 3-pointer midway through the third period to give the Cards a 41-28 lead and they took a 45-31 advantage into the final eight minutes and this time, they didn’t look back. By midway through the fourth the lead grew to 57-41 and it was over.

“The other night I thought we were too careful,” Guertin coach John Fisher said. “We had that lead, and we were too careful. The last two days in practice, we said, ‘Just keep playing. Whatever happens, just keep playing.’

“We’re better when we keep playing. We’ve learned that about ourselves. Stall is not our thing.”

No, scoring is, and the Cards two keys did just that. Dylan Santosuosso finished with 21 points and Kane had 17. That outdid North’s key duo, Curtis Harris-Lopez (13 points) and Sam McElliott (eight), while Jayden Espinal had nine. Jordan Robichaud added 11 for the Cards, but when Kane and Santosuosso are doing their thing, BG is tough to beat.

“And that’s what we’ve got to keep doing,” Fisher said. “But on any given night it could be anybody. Those guys tonight, you saw the team, it was pretty locked on. I didn’t have to say a lot.”

“To be honest, I would not define this season by this one game,” Lane said. “The kids really played well all season as far as meeting expctations and exceeding them…

“They (BG) have balance at all positions. They’re experienced, they have skill. Bottom line is they deserved it.”

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