These are very challenging days for the Londonderry High boys’ basketball team. And the Lancers’ recent three-game, Division I losing skid included a stinging, Ball Family Trophy Games loss to their rival Pinkerton Academy Astros which left the team wondering just what this 2017-18 season may become.
The Lancers – who were narrowly beaten by a single point by Merrimack a few nights before the Friday evening, Jan. 26 loss to Pinkerton – had begun the campaign with a five-game winning streak in their division. But since then there have been three consecutive losses, and anybody standing outside the LHS locker room in the moments following the Ball Trophy home loss to a PA squad which had been in the midst of a six-game losing skid would know that coach Nate Stanton felt the need to make a few loud and very emphatic points to his charges in an attempt to turn them around.
The Lancers had a victory slip away late in their 45-44 edging at the hands of the visiting Merrimack High Tomahawks at LHS Tuesday night, Jan. 23.
The Tomahawks didn’t have their first lead of the game until a little less than four minutes remained in regulation time, and they wound up being a point better than their hosts in leveling their Division I record at 4-4. The Lancers, meanwhile, moved to 5-2.
The hosts led by an impressive nine points at the close of one quarter after outscoring their guests by a 22-13 tally. But the second period was an exercise in futility for both contingents, with Merrimack managing all three points scored during that quarter.
The Tomahawks, who were playing under the leadership of assistant coach Austin Denton because longtime head man Tim Goodridge was home trying to fight off the effects of the flu, were down by a 22-16 tally at the half and by a 34-26 count after three full.
The visiting crew then outscored its host by a 19-10 margin in the fourth quarter in squeaking out the win.
Jack Anderson paced the LHS offense, as he has much of the way during this 2017-18 campaign, with 20 points. Senior court general Cole Britting contributed 11.
In the aforementioned, 50-44 home loss to Pinkerton, Londonderry grasped a tiny, 10-9 lead at the close of one period, with PA sinking just one of its final eight shots from the floor and going 4-13 in that area during the opening quarter.
Both teams struggled mightily with their shooting in quarter two – combining to go 1-for-16 during the second segment of that stanza with the lone bucket coming on a goaltending call – but the Astros enjoyed an 11-4 advantage where scoring was concerned in moving to halftime with a 20-14 advantage.
After being held to five points in the first half, Lancers’ sophomore guard Anderson came up absolutely huge for his side in the second half with both key three-pointers and important free throws as the two sides wound up knotted up at 33-33 going into the final period. And PA junior forward Sam Goy and several of his teammates came up with big shots for their side as the game came down the stretch with the outcome still very much in question.
After being outscored 19-13 in quarter three, the academy side bested its host by a 17-11 tally in the final period and wound up walking away with the hard-fought, extremely pleasing victory.
The score was last knotted up at 35-35 early in the fourth, but Pinkerton then reeled off an 8-0 run which left it grasping a 43-35 lead – and forcing a Londonderry timeout – with 4:59 showing on the clock.
The Lancers kept right on battling and did in fact outscore their hosts by a 9-7 margin the rest of the way. But the Astros bent without breaking, and their celebration following the sounding of the final buzzer no doubt released a whole bunch of frustration built up during their lengthy losing streak.
Lancer Anderson led all scorers with 20 points – including a quartet of three-pointers – but he was the lone Lancer in double figures. Dakota Bertrand fell just short with nine points for the now 5-3 LHS side.
Pinkerton had Goy (15) and tough-as-nails senior forward Ben Lindsey (14) finish in double digits, while Cason Giordano managed nine and Andrew Lufkin contributed eight.
Looking to rediscover the winning path and lower coach Stanton’s blood pressure, the 5-3 LHS crew drove into this week facing road games against the Nashua South Purple Panthers this Tuesday the 30th – after Londonderry Times press time – and then the Salem High Blue Devils this Friday night.