Genao hits buzzer-beating 3 to give Nashua South boys basketball win over Exeter

NASHUA – With 1.8 seconds remaining in regulation Wednesday night, the Nashua High School South boys basketball team had a very simple play called.

Get the ball in to Kevin Genao and let him put up the final shot.

It worked, as Genao got the ball, had time for a couple dribbles and heaved a 3-pointer off the backboard and in to give the Panthers a 57-54 win over Exeter in Division I action.

Genao finished a game-high 24 points, 16 of which came in the second half, as his four 3-pointers helped South (6-4) stay in a back-and-forth game with the Blue Hawks. There were 13 lead changes and eight ties in the game, which neither team led by more than five points at any time.

“They’ve got to be one of the highest scoring teams in the state,” South coach Nate Mazerolle said. “We told them have patience, grind out, we’re a team that wins in the 50s. Our defense was very good.”

Exeter (7-3) took a 54-49 lead with 2:18 to play, but South tied it up on a three-point play by Max Osgood, his only points of the second half, with 24.9 seconds remaining. The Blue Hawks had a chance to take the lead back, but South kept Exeter’s Cody Morissette from getting to the basket and forced him to kick it out to Bobby Cliche.

Cliche’s 3-point attempt was off the mark, Osgood grabbed the rebound and Mazerolle called a timeout with 1.8 left on the clock.

“Once we got that timeout, coach said ‘Kevin you’re going to get the ball and hit the game-winning shot,’ ” Genao said. “I knew it was going in. Coach told me to do a back cut and get the ball and I just let it fly. I probably took two dribbles. It was a pretty deep 3 and it just felt good.”

Osgood finished 12 points for South and Richie Mercado added eight in what was a rough shooting night for the Panthers.

Cliche led Exeter with 15 points while Morissette had 16, including four 3-pointers.

“I saw some highlights of Morissette scoring 38 against Winnacunnet and we held him to 16,” Mazerolle said. “We defended very well and I was pleased with our guys. They were patient in executing offensively. We made enough plays to get a very big win.”

The Blue Hawks looked like they might run away with it early, as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first minute and forced Mazerolle to use a timeout out 58 seconds into the game. South went on an 8-2 run out of the timeout to take the lead and force Exeter coach Jeff Holmes to call for time.

“We’ve had a lot of games like this,” Holmes said. “We played good enough basketball to beat a good team on the road for 31 minutes. For one minute, we decided not to play smart basketball. We didn’t execute, we didn’t hit some free throws, we had a foul to give and we’re trying to foul at the end and we didn’t. I was disappointed we didn’t execute in that last minute.”

Exeter is off until Tuesday, when it travels to face Portsmouth for a 6:30 p.m. start. South will play its third game of the week on Friday when it travels to Merrimack for a 6:30 tip.