Road woes continue as Memorial edged at BG

NASHUA, NH – The Manchester Memorial High School boys basketball team has proven it can go toe-to-toe with any team in the state. Winning those close battles, however, has often come down to whether Memorial is playing at home or on the road.

That script held Tuesday night when the Crusaders, three-days after a statement home win against rival Manchester Central, traveled to Nashua and were edged by Bishop Guertin, 72-70.

With the win, BG (7-5) moved ahead of Memorial (6-6) in the Division-I standings.

After a tight first half that saw Memorial hold onto a 36-34 advantage at halftime, the teams went back and forth in in the third quarter, with BG closing with a 9-4 run to take a 55-51 lead into the final frame.

There, they extended their lead to 66-60 with 3:30 left in the contest prompting Memorial coach Danny Bryson to take a timeout.

Memorial came back to the court composed, scored quickly and soon tied the contest at 70 with one minute remaining.

A missed layup in the closing seconds, however, led to Bishop Guertin scoring on the counter attack at the other end of the court to seal the game.

“We kept fighting, we gave ourselves a chance, had the ball for pretty much the last possession, and we just missed the shot, so I can’t take away from their energy or effort,” said Bryson. “We had the game to win. It just didn’t go our way today.”

Christian Bilolo finished the contest with 25 points, Jack Brooks had 15 points and Bory Bory contributed 12.

Memorial, which holds a 5-1 home record, including a 61-58 victory over 10-2 Keene on Dec. 16 and an 80-63 win over 6-6 Windham on Jan. 21. The Crusaders’ one home loss came at the hands of 10-2 Portsmouth, 84-80, on Jan. 17.

The road, has been the inverse, with Memorial holding a 1-5 record, including a 92-33 triumph at winless Concord on Jan. 14 and then setbacks at Alvirne, Londonderry, Bedford, Goffstown and now, BG. Each of those teams is competing with Memorial for tonight positioning in the D-I tournament.

“You know, we’ve had a problem playing on the road this year … but it’s D-I, so it’s really any-given-night, so it’s just get yourself in the playoffs and then anything can happen right now,” said Bryson. “We’re fighting at this point to get a home game (in the first round of the playoffs), but I believe we can do it.”

So does Guertin head coach Wil Horne.

“They’re a scrappy team. They’re good,” he said of Memorial. “I mean, Bilolo and Bory Bory are two of the better players in the state and, you know, they’re a team that’s going to be a tough out for anybody, so it was nice to be at home to play them, but they’re a really solid team and they’ll be in the mix and you never know where you can fall and this is a team that could easily fire off five wins in a row.”

The Crusaders look to rebound at home when they host 5-7 Dover on Friday at 6:30 before traveling to 7-5 Winnacunnet for another pivotal road test on Tuesday.

“It starts at practice tomorrow,” said Bryson. “And then we get ready for Dover. We get another win and we’re back over .500, and then we’ve got to get a string of wins. We haven’t gotten more than a two-game winning streak so far, and then we’re losing these two, four point games (on the road), so we’ve got to start finishing these games.”

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