Santosuosso, Bishop Guertin boys basketball rolls past Londonderry, into D1 final

DURHAM – The offense can come from any of a handful of players for the Bishop Guertin High School boys basketball team.

In the first half of Wednesday’s Division I semifinal against Londonderry, it came from Dylan Santosuosso.

The senior had 19 of the Cardinals’ 28 points in the first half, as Bishop Guertin built an early lead and kept Londonderry at a distance thanks in part to eight 3-pointers in a 55-38 win at Oyster River High School. The win puts the Cardinals in the final for the first time since 2013, where they will face Winnacunnet at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Santosuosso scored the game’s first seven points and hit all five of 3s in the first half and the Bishop Guertin defense, led by John Sullivan, helped keep Londonderry’s Jackson Cox in check. The Lancers senior was scoreless in the first half and had just four points.

“On any given night, it can be anybody,” Bishop Gueritn coach John Fisher said of the team’s scoring. “It’s always Dylan, he’s always going to hit his open shots. But if he’s not, then Nate (Kane) is capable. If you take Nate away, Jordan (Robichaud has his stuff. And then John (Sullivan) adds all that energy.

“We’ve got a balanced squad. Each of them I think is ready. It’s what you get when you have experienced players. These guys are seniors and they’ve just had this in their sights all year. That’s the way it’s been all season.”

Sullivan finished with seven points for the Cardinals (18-4) while Kane, Robichaud and Lucas Baker each added six.

Michael Rosatano came off the bench to lead Londonderry (9-7) with 13 points and Brian Gould added seven points, but the Lancers struggled to make shots early and were just 10 of 20 at the free throw line.

“Kudos to BG, they played great,” Londonderry coach Nate Stanton said. “They were well-prepared and they hit shots. Unfortunately, we missed a couple of layups right off the bat and it’s tough to come back against a good team like that. Some of (Bishop Guertin’s shots) were pretty contested, some of them were wide open.

“I felt like every time we were about to turn the page, all of a sudden we’d have a turnover or an and-1. And then we weren’t hitting our foul shots to try to inch back. A lot to learn from the day, but at the end of the day, I’m really proud of them.”

The game was scoreless until Santosuosso hit a 3 just over three minutes in, and he followed it up with two more baskets to give Bishop Guertin a 7-0 lead. Londonderry took a timeout and was able to get on the board out of it, getting a 3 from Gould, but the Cardinals led 12-8 at the end of one.

A 10-2 run in the second quarter put Bishop Guertin up 12 midway through the frame and a 3 by Santosuosso in the final seconds made it 28-15 at halftime.

On the other end, the Cardinals’ defense was keeping Cox from getting to the basket, and although he was able to distribute, the Lancers couldn’t get shots to fall.

“Every time he tried to penetrate, they would collapse on him,” Stanton said. “That made everything difficult for him. He wasn’t hitting from the outside, everything was contested. They did a good job on him. Usually, he can overcome it. I thought he did a good job finding guys.”

Bishop Guertin stretched the lead to 20 points, 40-20, with 3:44 left in the third quarter and Londonderry responded with a 7-0 run. The Cardinals scored twice in the final minute of the quarter to get up 17 points at the end of three, but the Lancers got it back down to 12 points with 6:11 to play.

But that was as close as Londonderry would get, as Bishop Guertin made enough free throws down the stretch to keep a comfortable lead.

And now the Cardinals will have a shot to win their first title since 2011.

“I pulled them aside at the beginning of the game and said whatever you do, make sure you have fun,” Fisher said. “This is an amazing moment. We’re so blessed we got this season in, all the basketball players, just that we got this opportunity, it’s a really good opportunity.”