Bishop Guertin needs OT to beat Manchester Central in D1 boys basketball quarterfinals

MANCHESTER – Jeff Lunn has done a lot for the Bishop Guertin High School boys basketball team this season.

But when the senior needed it Friday, the rest of the Cardinals had his back.

Lunn picked up his fourth foul 69 seconds into the third quarter, but No. 7 Bishop Guertin never missed a beat with its leading scorer on the bench, thanks to junior CJ Boykin and sophomore Kyle Gavin.

The pair combined for 37 points and helped lead the Cardinals to a 72-70 overtime victory over No. 2 Manchester Central in the Division I quarterfinals. The win sends Bishop Guertin to the University of New Hampshire for the division semifinals, where it will play No. 3 Spaulding at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Boykin finished with a game-high 22 points and Gavin came off the bench to add 15, while Lunn (12 points) and Steven Toscano (10) were also in double figures for the Cardinals (15-5).

“Both teams battled right to the end and you know when you come in here, it’s going to be a battle,” Bishop Guertin coach Jim Migneault said. “My kids played hard all night. The Central kids played hard all night. It came down to a few plays here and there and that was the difference.”

The trio of Boykin, Gavin and Toscano scored 34 points after halftime, including 15 in the game’s final seven minutes, as the teams went back and forth.

After the lead changed just once during the first three quarters, it happened five times in the fourth quarter and overtime, and there were four ties over that same stretch.

Central (16-4) got 21 points from Dawson Dickson while Troy Pelletier added 17 points, but only six of those came in the second half or overtime.

“They hit some incredible shots,” Central coach Doc Wheeler said. “You’ve got to give them credit. If you look at it, he’s been playing nine or 10 guys and they’re scoring seven to nine points per game. A lot of different kids are scoring points for them. That’s not abnormal. We expected it, but we would have liked to have done a better job covering them.”

In the first half, the Little Green did the job on defense. Central got out to an early led and was up by as many as 12 in the second quarter.

“We weren’t moving the ball really well in the first half,” Migneault said. “We got a little stagnant and they were doing a really good job defending the inside. We couldn’t get the ball in where we wanted it and we bogged down. We weren’t running and in the second half, we started to run and that opened up a lot of things for us.”

A lot of that running started with Boykin. The junior hit three 3s, but also drove to the basket and was twice fouled on 3-point attempts, making all six of the free throws.

“He’s very quick and he’s difficult to stay in front of him,” Wheeler said of Boykin. “In order to contain him, you give him a little room … we’d never seen him stop and shoot like that off the dribble. He got on a roll.”

With Central up 45-39 with 1:45 left in the third, Boykin made the first three of those foul shots, and Gavin hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Bishop Guertin its first lead 48-45.

“He’s got ice water in his veins,” Migneault said of Gavin. “He is one of those kids that just comes to play. He’s a very good shooter. If you give him room, he can knock them down.”

The Little Green turned the ball over with 4.5 seconds left, and Toscano was able to drive the floor and get a layup to go before the buzzer to make it a five-point game after three.

But Central countered with a 7-0 run to open the fourth and retake the lead. The teams traded points until Bishop Guertin was back up by four, 61-57, with 2:24 to play.

Dickson drained a 3 to make it a one-point game, and after a Bishop Guertin turnover, Brett Hanson’s layup made it 62-61 Central.

The Cardinals came right back, passing over Central’s press and finding Lunn for an old-fashioned three-point play. After a Central miss, Bishop Guertin tried to run out the clock, but Dickson stole the ball from Costas Niarhos, made a layup to tie the game at 64 and was fouled with 23.5 seconds left.

The junior missed the free throw and although Central got the rebound, Pelletier couldn’t get a shot off before the buzzer.

Central took the early lead in overtime, but after two free throws from Boykin and a layup by Gavin, Bishop Guertin was up 72-68 with 20 seconds left.

It looked like Cardinals were going to keep the Little Green from getting a shot, but Boykin fouled Pelletier with 4.2 seconds left. The senior sank both to make it a two-point game, and the inbounds pass ended up in the hands of Hanson.

Hanson tried to get closer to the basket, but his jumper from the wing was off the mark and the buzzer sounded, giving Bishop Guertin the win.

“We have a lot of kids that we play all year,” Migneault said. “They practice and work hard all year and when they get a chance to play, they play.”