Bishop Guertin coach John Fisher hugs his players after their Division I boys hoop title win last Saturday night in Durham. (Courtesy photo by Jason Strniste/Bishop Guertin)

NASHUA – Bishop Guertin High School boys basketball coach John Fisher remembers every word, every detail.

The Cardinals had just lost a tough overtime game to city rival Nashua North in the regular season finale. It was a wake-up call, in a way, but it left a very grouchy, determined Guertin basketball team.

“The period of time, from after that North loss, to the championship moment, those moments to me, I remember every minute, every word that the kids said out loud,” Fisher said. “Every dive they made during practice, every time they said ‘Geez, I should have done that better, I want to do this, I know this is what I’m supposed to do.’

“That time period is going to be forever burned in my mind.”

It all led up to a crowning achievement for the Cardinals, as they won five straight postseason games, including last Saturday’s 42-35 Division I championship game win over Winnacunnet. It was Guertin’s (18-5) first title win since 2011.

The Bishop Guertin Cardinals celebrate their Divison I boys basketball championship last Saturday night in Durham. (Photo by Hector Longo)

There was a lot of hype going into the Cardinals’ season. Senior Nate Kane, seeking more of an in-school experience rather than remote learning, opted at the last moment to transfer from Nashua North to Bishop Guertin. Cardinal sophomore Javari Ellison also transferred in from North, but while Kane’s was last second, Ellison applied months earlier.

They were joining a group of seniors led by scorer Dylan Santosuosso, Lucas Baker, Jordan Robichaud, John Sullivan, etc.

Guertin players never felt their court time threatened by the newcomers. “They know each other,” Fisher said. “The people who came in were great people.”

Guertin had a team many thought might win it last year, but the Cards were shocked at home by Salem in the prelims – just before the entire tournament got shut down by the pandemic.

So Guertin’s oddesey to the crown really began back in March of 2020.

“It really stung,” Fisher said, noting that a few of the seniors from that team – Kyle Baker, Sam Mullett, etc. hung around this year’s team, and Baker was in the locker room before and after Saturday’s win. “It really stung, and still stung most of the guys who were out there (Saturday). They were all guys who were robbed of basketball playoffs last year. Nate was, Javari was, and all of our guys were. Nobody got to play this out last year.”

And in the season opener, Guertin was beaten 59-54 by Goffstown and the Cards knew they just couldn’t show up.

“It really helped to remind them,” Fisher said, “that there’s a lot of good basketball teams out there and a lot of good basketball players out there. In each game we learned something about ourselves as a team as the season went on. There wasn’t one game where we didn’t learn one thing, and we would try to figure that thing out and talk about it the day after.”

And thus, by the end of the year, the Cardinal players, Fisher said, “could do it themselves. That’s kind of the benefit of having a senior team, an experienced bunch of basketball players. … They were really dedicated to getting better. That (Goffstown) was an early moment.”

There were other losses, too, including two to everyone’s other title favorite, Exeter. There were wins as well, Fisher said, when the team didn’t play up to expectations.

“That’s how they committed to getting better,” he said.

A couple of those were games vs. Londonderry, whom the Cards beat in the semifinals. Nashua South played them tough in the regular season meeting, coming back to lead 38-36 at halftime after Guertin jumped out to a 16-2 start. They only beat Windham in their second meeting, 38-36 after being manhandled by the Jaguars 57-41 in the first game. Clearly consistency was something Fisher was seeking.

“We learned that if we don’t play defense 100 percent,” Fisher said, “teams would not only win, they would blow us out. The Windham games proved what the guys knew all along: We’re a defensive team, and we get our offense from our defense.”

Case in point: After losing to Exeter – which Winnacunnet knocked off in the Division I prelims – by a 65-48 margin back on Feb. 8, Guertin did not allow a team to reach 60 points again the rest of the season. In fact, they held an up and coming Pinkerton team to just 30 points – on the road. “The guys just made the right moves,” Fisher said. “I felt good the whole game. The guys took care of business.”

Once he got everyone together, Fisher took his time, as the record shows, getting everyone to mesh. Asking when he felt he had everyone firing on all cylinders, Fisher quipped, “Friday night (at practice). But I can tell you the last three weeks, the meshing and the increase in our chemistry was really notable. That has a lot to do with the guys peaking at the right time.”

But then came the North overtime loss. Fisher thought the team was firing on all cylinders, the Cards were up 10 in the fourth quarter, and ended up falling 53-51 in overtime.

“The players were twice as upset about it as I was,” Fisher said. “I know (the Titans) are talented, and I know Steve Lane’s a phenomenal coach. And I knew it was going to be very difficult. And that’s exactly like it was.”

After that loss, the Cardinals spent their most time at practice. Two days prior to a game, Fisher talks about the scheme and reasons for it. The day before, individual match ups and “the what” are discussed. But that result was different.

“The day after the North game, they could not stop talking about how they wanted the whole game plan, they wanted to play that game right now. They wanted to fix what was broken from the game that Friday night.”

And that was on a Saturday, with a rematch with Nashua South in the tourney opener 48 hours away. Fisher was able to steer them away from the Titans on to South.

“You’re not going to hear North come out of my mouth once,” Fisher told his players, “So get over it.”

They agreed, telling him “We get it, we get it.”

But after the Monday night win over South, the next day’s practice was what the players wanted.

“A level of locked in,” Fisher said, “that I had never seen from a basketball team in my memory.”

In fact, Fisher had arrived at the Colligadome a half hour before the start of practice and his players were already on the floor. “I said, ‘Oh my goodness, I’ve just got to tone this down,'” he said.

And they did. The Cards pulled away in the second half to rout North, showing a determination never to lose again. But it all started after that overtime loss.

“The seniors, the words that came out of their mouths, were so on point,” Fisher said. “If you recorded me from the North game, until the end of (last Saturday) night, of what I actually provided that they didn’t already know themselves, you wouldn’t have an article to write.”

In other words, a group of players who took charge of their own fate. Thus Guertin pulled away in the second half in the rematch at the same Titans gym of the previous week’s disaster. They then went on to handle Alvirne in the quarters, Londonderry in the semis, and of course the Warriors in the finals, a game that fittingly was the closest of the tournament.

A championship well earned, with a journey along the way full of twists and turns. Fisher and his players will never forget every single one.

Newsletter