Nashua North boys cruise past Nashua South to win Nashua Holiday Basketball Tournament title (video)

NASHUA -There’s some truth to that saying about doing what you love.

The Nashua High School North boys basketball team loves playing an up-tempo, pressure-filled style of game, and when the Titans do it well, it doesn’t look like work at all.

North put that pressure on Nashua South early, and it paid off often, as the Titans jumped out to an early lead, withstood a Panthers come back in the third quarter, and rolled to a 76-47 win Thursday in the championship game of the Nashua Holiday Basketball Tournament at Nashua High School South.

Trevor Labrecque led the way with 25 points for the Titans, 13 of which came in the first quarter. Jayden Montgomery and Jack Peters were also in double figures with 11 points each, with Peters hitting three 3-pointers, while Jack Sullivan had eight points.

South finished with 17 turnovers, six of which came during a 11-2 run by North in the third quarter that helped the Titans turn a nine-point game into a 20-point lead.

“This is how we play,” North coach Steve Lane said. “Barring any crazy things that happen, this is the way we’re going to continue to play. The kids like to play this way. They like to get up and down the floor and they share the ball with each other. When it goes in, it looks really good.”

It went in a lot for the Titans, as they led 26-12 at the end of the first quarter and 38-25 at halftime, never letting the Panthers get within single digits until early in the third quarter.

South got 15 points from Alize Roig-Cortes but no one else was in double figures, as North held Josh Caruso to eight points, including 6 of 6 at the free throw line. Naveen Ravindran came off the bench to added five points for the Panthers.

“They are a tough matchup,” South coach Nate Mazerolle said. “We typically have an advantage on our floor. They’re one team we don’t have an advantage on our nice, big floor. That’s not a team you can press. If we had pressed them it would be 176 (points).”

South started to creep back in to open the third quarter, outscoring North 8-4 over the first three minutes to get within 42-33. But the Titans quickly responded, scoring six points in a minute to push the lead back to 15.

“It’s almost good that my kids don’t care what the score is,” Lane said. “I tell them the most important part of the game is the four minutes at the end of the game, the offensive execution and defensive possessions. Until that time comes, you’ve got to be in the game and be close. I don’t think a nine-point deficit in the third bothered them. They just kept the motor going and kept the pressure on.”

For Lane, its the first time in his 12 years as Titans head coach that they’ve won the holiday tournament, although North has reached the final a number of times, including in 2018.

After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both coaches were happy to see the tournament return in some form. What it will look like in the future remains to be seen, but it will at least look something like what took place in 2022.

“We love having the Christmas tournament here in Nashua,” Mazerolle said. “We have the two facilities that are better than any other in the state. Having this, having a little buzz around basketball this time of year, that’s a good thing.

“This was perfect for the first year back at it. We’ll see how we feel, we’ll decompress and probably talk about it when the season is over. We’re definitely going to do at least this again. Where we go from here, we’ll make that decision down the road.”

Souhegan 61, Milford 43

The Sabers bounced back to get a win over the Spartans in the consolation game of the tournament, getting a big day from Matt Canavan and Carter Hayes.

Both seniors had 17 points, with Canavan hitting three 3-pointers and Hayes adding two, while Joe Bernasconi and Nolan Colby each scoring six points. Colby was 6 for 6 at the free throw line.

Kai LauQuan had 18 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead Milford while Brady Hansen added eight points and Chuck Urda had six.