NASHUA – Manchester Central is hitting their stride with the push for the postseason heating up, picking up their fourth win in five games on Friday night, a 61-47 victory against the Cardinals of Bishop Guertin.
The Cardinals opened the contest with a pair of threes from Austin Hiscoe, marking the host’s largest lead of the contest, a lead that proved to be fleeting.
By the end of the first quarter, Central’s six-point deficit transformed into a 13-8 advantage, heading into the half with a 24-19 lead.
Any semblance of a close game evaporated in third quarter as Central went on a 14-2 run, turning the fourth quarter into little more than a foregone conclusion. Bishop Guertin drained another pair of threes in the final two minutes, finishing a respectable final quarter, but eight fourth-quarter free throw points from Central’s Royce Williams negated any momentum, with teammate Jesus Millan pitching in six points, two rebounds and a pair of assists in the final eight minutes.
Millan almost singlehandedly took more shots in the third quarter than the entire Bishop Guertin team combined, ending the game with 15 points and five steals on the night.
“Jesus has been very consistent, I couldn’t be more proud of him,” said Central Head Coach Sudi Lett. “He’s been the leader of our team, a vocal leader of our team. I’m happy to have him.”
Didi Niyang finished with 19 points for Central, while Williams ended with 16.
After a difficult loss against Goffstown earlier this week, Lett called this contest the best of the year so far for his squad. His boys sliced through a Bishop Guertin defense that proved to be too static early on, being patient enough to find the open shots that have eluded them in the past.
“We’d been working really hard in practice on our weaknesses as a team,” said Lett. “Goffstown showed us that we struggled against the zone, we put in a lot of work toward that and I think it paid off today.”
Bishop Guertin’s Ian Connolly got all of his 13 points in the fourth quarter, just short of the 14 from Hiscoe.
Central (7-6) faces Trinity on Tuesday night while Bishop Guertin (5-8) heads to Dover, also on Tuesday.
