Three high school boys’ basketball squads tried and failed to blemish the Londonderry High male hoopsters’ perfect Division I record last week.
Coach Nate Stanton watched his Lancers down the Bishop Geurtin High School guys by 16 points, the Concord High Crimson Tide fellas by a full 40 points, and the Exeter Blue Hawk males by 10 in bumping their divisional record up to 5-0.
The Lancers ran their D-I mark up to a perfect 3-0 Tuesday, Jan. 6, with a 74-58 defeat of the Guertin Cardinals on that opponent’s home court in Nashua.
Stanton’s squad raced out to a 22-10 lead in the first quarter, and by halftime the advantage sat at 21 points at 39-18.
The host Cardinals (1-2) showed more life and enjoyed more success in the second half, outscoring their guests by a 40-35 tally. But Londonderry still won handily.
Senior guard Cody Ball, who recently committed to playing his collegiate hoops at Saint Anselm College, led the winning cause by netting 22 points. Marc Corey and Jake Coleman each contributed 17, and Joey Kwiatkowski was good for nine of his own.
In the Londonderry crew’s 73-33 hammering of Concord at LHS last Friday night, Jan. 9, Corey enjoyed the big night for the local side.
The senior forward was good for a career-high 32 points in that crowning of Concord, and with Ball netting 18 of his own and Coleman contributing 14 there was plenty with which to be pleased on the LHS sideline.
Kwiatkowski was left to cheer his teammates on as he recovered from a knee injury
The hosts had sprinted out to a 21-8 lead by the close of the first quarter, and their halftime advantage sat at 29 big points (43-14) as the locals went on to win every quarter.
“I liked how we worked together on the defensive end, and that’s our priority,” said Stanton. “We caused 19 turnovers and held them to 33 points, and that’s what I’m most proud of. Also having different guys step up each night is huge for us.”
Then last Saturday, Jan. 10, Stanton’s squad made the ride to the seacoast to take on the host Exeter High Blue Hawks in a make-up game. And the locals needed to put forth a serious fourth-quarter push to drive away with a 67-57 win in hand.
Londonderry led 17-12 after one quarter and 35-25 at halftime, but the host Hawks outscored the Lancers by a 21-12 margin in the third quarter to slice the LHS lead down to a single point at 47-46.
The visitors managed to outscore their hosts by a 20-11 tally in the decisive fourth period and win the contest.
Marc Corey tallied 21 points and Cody Ball netted 20 to lead the LHS charge, with Brandon Radford contributing 11.