The Fast Lane: Cards avoid mishaps, cruise past Spaulding

Bishop Guertin's Eli Youssef (34) loses the handle on his way up against Spaulding's Nate Sanchez-Martinez during Thursday night's game at the Colligadome. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)
NASHUA – There’s a different feeling around the Bishop Guertin High School boys basketball team team these days.
It’s called winning.
Ever since a lackluster first half against Nashua North last Friday, the Cards have been on point, first making that game close, then knocking off previously unbeaten Trinity on the road and then routing Spaulding 69-43 at the Colligadome on Thursday night.
“Again momentum, you just have to stack momentum,” Guertin guard Luca Fabrizio said. “Each win, more momentum, the more you stack, the better it gets.”
It couldn’t have gotten much better for BG last night as the evened their Division I mark to 3-3. They haven’t enjoyed too many dominant wins like this in the last year. In games past, the Red Raiders, who were hanging around within 10 in the third quarter, would have been allowed by the Cards to make it a game and even surge past them. Instead, Guertin, which led 27-16 at the half, increased the lead to 48-34 after three and then owned the fourth quarter. That’s a big change.
“Honestly, we stopped getting in our own way,” Guertin coach Will Horne said. “We’ve had so many games with just self-inflicting wounds. … We’re just starting to get out of our own way and see what this team is really capable of.”
They seem capable of a lot, as recent results will show, albeit early season ones. Horne was able to play a lot of players, got a game-high 24-points from Connor McGowan, and they survived a late first half and early third quarter cold shooting spell. McGowan hit a trey and then a layup just over two minutes into the fourth making it 58-39 and that was basically it. The Cards got four second half 3-pointers from Josh Corriveau for 12 and Fabrizio had 10.
Spaulding was led by Marcell Rose’s 15 and 11 from Kyron Jeanpierre. The Red Raiders (1-5) have dropped five straight, but they had been in every game – until last night.
“You get let a team like them (make it close),” Fabrizio said. “They’re desperate, right? We’ve been there before. Pretty much a must win on both sides. Every game’s pretty much a must win. I think we executed the game plan to perfection.”
Horne knows what the Cards are capable of. Do they?
“They do,” he said. “They see it in practice. We had a lot of success in the off-season, playing in a couple of fall leagues. We’ve got to stop getting in our own way. Even for some time in this game you could see us get in our way.”
But they escaped that mentality quickly and owned the fourth quarter by a 21-9 margin.
“Guys are getting experience, they’re getting well into their varsity career here,” Horne said. “Even guys like Luca, he’s a sophomore that’s now played in well over 25 high school basketball games. All these guys are getting experience, feeling more comfortable in these situations, and it’s paying off.”