Bishop Guertin's Connor McGowan goes up for two of his 34 points as Nashua North's Sean Battle can only watch during Friday night's city battle at Titans Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The ingredients were there for the Bishop Guertin High School boys basketball team Friday night.

Nashua North’s Titans Gym, a nice big floor to run on. A team that loved to play up tempo the same way the Cards do in the young North aquad.

But one thing was missing after what had become a close first half: defense. That changed over the final 16 minutes as the Cards outran the Titans to a much-needed 81-70 win.

Guertin had jumped out to an 18-7 early lead but found themselves up only 36-34 at the half. But in the third quarter BG went on a 10-2 run and the lead stayed in double figures the rest of the night.

“We needed the defense in the third quarter and we got it,” BG coach Will Horne said. “(Connor) McGowan was fantastic on defense and Sam Woodward, he doesn’t get all the credit in the world, but the amount of rebounds, he held (North’s Josh) Sullivan down tonight. I don’t know what he ended up with (20 points) but still made it a really tough night for him.

“We hang our hat on him, on the defensive end, and he kind of brought us back in that third and fourth quarter. And one of the smartest kinds in our school, too.”

McGowan got credit for his defense but he had a great offensive night, as this was his kind of game, finishing with 34 points – 15 in that decisive third quarter after which BG led 64-47.

“When you see them on film, and you see their guard play, just athletes, athletes getting up and down the court,” said North coach Kyle Tave, his team still seeking its first regular season win at 0-4. “They were just able to get out and run in that third quarter. Connor McGowan, he stepped his game up in that third quarter … That’s why their contenders. Those guys, you can tell they’ve been playing together for awhile.

“Hopefully next time we see them we can sustain it for four quarters and it’s a different deal.”

The Titans sustained it for the second quarter. Down 20-13 they were able to come back and grab a couple of leads thanks to Andre Kargbo getting 13 of his 18 points during that span.

“But then they locked it in on us,” Tave said. “They said ‘We’re going to make a commitment on the defensive end.’ And once they did that, it made it difficult for us. Hats off to them. It was a great learning experience.”

With eight seniors the Cards are trying to take those lessons of the past and create a good future. That wouldn’t happen without a win.

“Yes,” Horne said. “We needed a win, we’ve got Trinity coming to us on Tuesday, we know that’s never going to be an easy game. We wanted to get to .500 and get back on track.”

Mission accomplished.

Nashua North’s Andre Kargbo (21) drives on Bishop Guertin’s Luca Fabrizio during Friday night’ Division I clash at North. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)