Nashua South Notebook: Boys basketball following steady trajectory

There a few things Nate Mazerolle knew he would get this year from his Nashua High School South boys basketball team.

In some ways, those things have played out better than he expected.

That starts in the backcourt, with the Panthers’ dynamic duo of senior Zac Castonguay and junior Josh Caruso. Both are among the top five in Division I in scoring going into Friday’s game at Nashua North.

“Having Josh and Zac is a coach’s dream,” Mazerolle said. “They make my job easy and make me look smart when they combine for 60 points.”

While South has been able to get off to a great start (6-2 in D1, 8-2 overall) thanks in large part to the offensive output of Castonguay and Caruso, the Panthers need more than just those two contributing. With an inexperienced team outside of a handful of players, Mazerolle knew it would take some time for everything else to fill around them.

“We have guys who go make basketball plays,” the coach said. “We’re still building into finding some chemistry and executing the way we want to. When it really matters, we have to make plays, but rely on whatever offense you are doing, whatever defense you are doing. You have to have five guys who you know are going to do it right. We’re still building to that.”

Going into the season, Mazerolle expected sophomore Josh Tripp to be a big contributor in ways that don’t show up at the scorers’ table. After battling an illness at the start of the regular season, Tripp has provided the Panthers with just that.

“Josh Tripp is quietly as important as anyone we have,” Mazerolle said. “He has four points, but he does so much. We have a stat we call VPS, which is kind of like WAR, and he’s off the charts. Two is good, some kids get a four, last game he was 8.75. He just does everything right.”

The Panthers knew that freshman big Daniel Karavanic would have to start inside, quite the ask of a young player joining varsity, but he’s been another surprise for South.

“Daniel Karavanic has been fantastic, especially on the glass, which was a little bit of concern,” Mazerolle said. “We aren’t huge, but he plays bigger than his size. His defending, his rebounding, his understanding of the game, where maybe he only gets four or six points, but he has 12 rebounds, that’s huge for us. He’s got a good head on his shoulders.”

Senior Isaac Ndubuisi and junior Samson Akotey have also stepped in to provide South with solid minutes.

“We were so young and inexperienced when we started, I’m happy with the progression that we’ve made,” Mazerolle said. “The kids even see, this is the next step, and then we can do this.”

Track

Boys, girls run well in Rhode Island

South runners competed well at the 12th East Coast Championship Meet at the Providence (R.I.) Career & Technical High School. No team scores were recorded and following are top 20 finishes.

For the boys, the 3,200-meter relay team of Dante Castellano, Camdon Brien, Ryan DuVarney and Matthew Motherway finished first in 8 minutes, 52.05 seconds.

DuVarney also came in fourth in the 2-mile run (10:19.83) while Aidan Bessada was ninth (10:56.52) and Rishav Sood was 11th (11:12.43) in the same event. Castellano came in fifth (4:36.37) and Cameron Patronick was 12th (4:46.86) in the 1-mile run.

Brien took eighth in the 800 (2:07.97) while Micah Allard was 13th in the 800 (2:09.48). Michael Menezes took sixth in the 55 (6.76) and 10th in the 200 (24.14) while Marcell Perry was ninth in the 55 (6.82), 12th in the long jump (19-feet, 11-inches) and 19th in the 200 (24.5).

Elyza Mercado finished 13th in the shot put (41-4) and Barion Perry was 14th in the high jump (5-6).

Menezes, Allard, Sergio Lopez and Barion Perry finished fourth in the 1,600-meter relay in 3:42.92 while Menezes, Marcell Perry, Ryan Jansen and Ethan Schnyer finished sixth in the 800-meter relay in 1:37.52.

For the girls, Nyah Musa took sixth in the 55 (7.38) and ninth in the 200 (27.08) while Mimi Ortiz was 11th in the 200 (27.55) and 10th in the 55 hurdles (9.53). Sarah Witta took 11th in the 55 hurdles (9.58).

Ortiz, Witta, Nevaeh Eppolito and Emely Melendez were fifth in the 1,600-meter relay (4:24.09) while Ortiz, Musa, Witta and Alejandra Chavarin finished sixth in the 800-meter relay (1:52.12).

Melendez, Eppolito, Jolina Almonte and Caroline Andrade came in 12th in the 3,200-meter relay (11:46.03). Penelope Rodriguez came in 13th in the high jump (4-6).

Nora Gautieri placed 12th in the championship shot put (31-0.75) while Marissa Abbis was 12th (28-5.25), Chloe Cruz was 14th (28-2) and Vanessa Ortiz Cueves was 18th (27-4) in the emerging shot put.

Up Next: Both boys and girls teams will compete at a Qualifying Standards meet at 1 p.m. Saturday at Phillips Exeter Academy.

Wrestling

South falls to Alvirne at Super Quad

The Panthers wrestled at Concord in a Super Quad meet and fell to the Broncos 42-30.

John McDevitt (138 pounds), Benjamin Byrne (144) and Connor Whitman (165) each recorded a pin for South. Robert Perez (150) and Ian McCubrey (285) also got wins for the Panthers.

South drops dual to Concord

The Panthers went back to Concord and lost to the Crimson Tide 60-18.

Benjamin Byrne (144) got a pin against Jaxon Carter and Diego Domingue (157) got one against Jeydon Wilson. Robert Perez (150) beat Maximus Chung 11-8 and Connor Whitman (165) knocked off Anthony Gualtieri 7-0.

Up next: The Panthers go back to Concord on Saturday for another quad meet, along with Plymouth, Souhegan and Pinkerton. They return home on Wednesday for a dual with Exeter.

Girls Basketball

Panthers look to end skid

After evening their record 10 days ago, South has dropped a pair of games at home, falling to Pinkerton on Jan. 11 and Salem on Wednesday.

Up next: The Panthers battled Nashua North at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, then travel to Exeter on Tuesday.

Boys Hockey

South drops close pair

The Panthers fell in a pair of close games, dropping a 3-2 decision against Trinity on Jan. 13 before falling at home to Bow, 3-1, on Wednesday.

Up next: The Kings travel to Hanover for a 2:20 p.m. start on Saturday and then go to Winnacunnet for an 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

Upcoming Schedule

• Gymnastics: The Panthers will compete in a nine-team meet at 11 a.m. Sunday at A2 Gym & Cheer in Pelham.
• Swimming: The Panthers return to the pool Jan. 20-21 for a meet against North and Bishop Guertin. The dive portion of the meet will be held the 20th at the Boys & Girls Club while the swim portion will be the 21st at the Nashua YMCA.
• Unified Basketball: The Panthers are off until Jan. 29 when they host Berlin.
• Skiing: The Panthers will compete in a meet on Feb. 1 at Pat’s Peak.

Editor’s Note: This is a new weekly feature that will be posted every Friday through the end of the school year. South coaches can submit info to nhhighschoolsports@gmail.com. If you would like to sponsor the notebook, send an email to nhhighschoolsports@gmail.com.