Bishop Guertin's Jeremiah Figaro looks to make a baseline move whiile Merrimack's Nathan Johnson, left, tries for the steal behind him during Friday night's game at the Colligadome. (Photo by Dan Aulbach)

NASHUA — Perhaps BG Hoops Legends should be in attendance every game for the Cardinals.

With the legendary 1983 Class L champions honored during halftime, BG relished off a homecoming to secure their first home victory for first-year coach Will Horn, besting Merrimack 61-49 Friday night at the Colligadome.

“It’s just one more,” said Horn. “It’s a stepping stone. This is not the finish line. It’s not where we want to be, but it’s definitely a start for us. We showed up with a great mentality and protected our home court.”

While Bishop Guertin has struggled down the stretch of the Division I season, the Cardinals got an early lead against Merrimack in a sluggish first quarter at 11-6. From there, BG got the ball in the hands of freshman Jeremiah Figaro (11 points), totaling 7 of the Cardinals 20 points in the second quarter while dominant on offensive rebounding.

“In the second quarter, I just told them ‘We got to get 20 points this quarter,'” said Horn. “Funny enough, we hit 20 on the dot. I know we’re capable of it, it just comes with confidence because this is a young team.”

After just 13 points in the first half, Merrimack picked up the pace of its offense in the second half, firing quick transition layups and 3-point shots led by Michael Flerra, with all 15 of his points in the second half and four catch-and-shoot deep shots to cut BG’s lead.

“We just couldn’t put it in the hoop, layups included,” said Merrimack head coach Austin Denton. “Even when we do get the wide open ones, we just didn’t hit them. If you total 13 points at half, you’re in trouble.”

While Merrimack climbed back into the competition scoring 18 points in the third and fourth quarters, sophomore guard Connor McGowan got to work for the Cardinals, going strong at the basket and heading to the charity stripe eight times while scoring 20 on the night.

“We had a great game plan against them, we knew everything they were doing,” said Denton. “But we didn’t box out, we didn’t win the rebounding battle either, which makes it hard… it was a combination of things tonight.”

On Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., BG heads to Nashua North with a home win under their belt, while Merrimack heads back home to take on Spaulding to get things back on track.