Nashua South gets out early, hangs on to beat Milford at Chick-fil-A basketball tourney

NASHUA – There was a lot for Nate Mazerolle to like about the Nashua High School South boys basketball team’s 52-42 win Friday over Milford.

There were also somethings that made the Panthers coach a little concerned.

South roared out to a 14-point halftime lead, thanks largely to the post play of big men Jack Preston and David Dunham, and was up by 46-17 late in the third quarter. Mistakes by the Panthers allowed to opportunities for the Spartans, and they took advantage, making seven 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes to make the score respectable.

“We did what we had to do, but there were too many breakdowns,” Mazerolle said. “When we get back to the regular season, if we do that against the likes of Central or Trinity or Merrimack, we’ll be in trouble. We do not lack confidence and I keep telling them that at some time, that’s going to come get us if we think we can waltz through things.”

Preston did a lot of the dancing for South, scoring a game-high 26 points, including three dunks, two of which came in the first quarter and seemed to intimidate Milford. Dunham added nine points and Tim Preston chipped in with eight.

“We got caught on our heels to start the game, and we got caught on our heels in the third quarter,” Milford coach Dan Murray said. “Our defense reflects how we play on offense. We made an adjustment at halftime, that we were going to contain a little more, and I think that put us on our heels. That was a coaching mistake. The offense followed that.”

Ryan Britton led the Spartans with 12 points, all of which came on 3-pointers in the third and fourth quarter, and Mitch Banuskevich added six points, again on 3s in the final quarter.

Milford stayed with South early in the game, but when Preston threw down his second dunk, it started the Panthers on a 16-5 run. South led by as many as 16 in the first half, and the Panthers might have been up more, if not for some turnovers that immediately followed mistakes by the Spartans.

“When we have an opportunity, we will watch that film and we’ll see there’s a mistake and there’s a mistake,” Mazerolle said. “Many of them didn’t hurt us, but they eventually will.”

South opened the second half with a 15-0 run, as Milford turned the ball over four times and committed seven fouls during that stretch.

But the Spartans didn’t give up and managed to get back into the game from behind the 3-point line. Seven of Milford’s final eight field goals were 3-pointers, as the Spartans outscored South 25-6 over the final 11-plus minutes.

“They weren’t thinking on those shots,” Murray said. “When they don’t have to think, they’re pretty good. The defense got up more, and we should have done that earlier, taken some chances even though we knew we were playing some good guards.”

Harrison Urda started the barrage, and Britton followed with two 3s to end the third quarter. A jumper by Jared Asselin and another 3 from Britton made it a 47-33 South lead, and two 3s by Banuskevich, sandwiched around a putback by Dunham, cut the lead to 51-39 with 1:23 to play. Britton’s fourth 3 made it a nine-point game, but the rally ended there for the Spartans.

Despite the Panthers’ play down the stretch, Mazerolle liked how South opened the game by establishing its presence down low.

“I liked that early on we went to the post,” he said. “That’s one of our mantras this year because I don’t think anyone can defend (Preston) in the post, but he can play inside and out. Sometimes, he gravitates out wide, but early on, we established that against some size and that was good to see. He took the challenge upon himself to match up against those kids.”

South will play Souhegan at noon in the semifinals Saturday, while Milford will take on Alvirne in a consolation game at 4:30 p.m. Both games are at Nashua South.