Nashua North holds off Milford in Day 2 of Chick-fil-A Holiday Basketball Tournament

NASHUA – For the second game in a row, the Nashua High School North boys basketball entered the fourth quarter with a lead.

This time, the Titans found a way to hang on, as they defeated Milford 59-45 on Friday in the second day of the Chick-fil-A Holiday Basketball Tournament at Nashua South.

Jordan Lates scored all of his 21 points in the second half after sitting most of the first foul trouble, and Ashea Bittle added 11 points for the Titans, who led 45-40 going into the fourth quarter. Milford struggled to score in the final eight minutes, getting its last points with 4:28 to play on a basket that made it a 50-45 game.

The Spartans got 11 points from Seth Hopkins while Ross Briggs added 10, but the pair combined for just five points in the second half.

A pair of buckets by Lates midway through the third put North up 39-31, but Milford made three 3-pointers in a row – two by Drew Jepson – to cut the Titans’ lead to 41-40 with 2:04 left in the quarter.

In the fourth, Lates hit a 3 that gave North a 53-45 lead, and then added two free throws to give the Titans a double-digit lead.

North will now take on Hollis Brookline at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the fifth-place game of the tournament. Milford faces Goffstown in the seventh-place game at 12 p.m.