NASHUA – The Nashua High School North boys basketball team has made a habit out of losing big leads late in games this season.
Nashua North's Alex Pratt goes in for a layup during the Titans' win over Manchester West. For more photos, check out the Photo Album.
In six of their eight losses this season, the Titans have led late in the second half, only to see the opponent rally. All six of those losses have been by nine points or less.
North might have finally kicked that habit Friday night.
The Titans led by nine going into the fourth quarter and held Manchester West to just five points in the final eight minutes to pull out a 54-37 victory in Class L action.
Alex Pratt led the way for North, scoring 15 of his game-high 24 points in the first half. Javon Williams added 14 points for the Titans (8-8) and Trevor Rancourt chipped in with six markers.
The Blue Knights (11-5) got 11 points each from Aaron Martin and Greg Asselin.
“West is a real good team,” North coach Andy Otocka said. “I think that’s the highest quality win we have this year.
“In the past we’ve beaten ourselves. Tonight, we held on in the fourth quarter. We executed much better on offense. We went to the basket instead of settling for jump shots.”
It took North a quarter to get fully warmed up. Down 13-9 early in the second quarter, the Titans went on a 12-0 run, with nine of those points coming from Pratt.
“He’s our captain and he’s our senior,” Otocka said. “His elbow is killing him and he’s worked through it.”
West fought back twice in the second quarter to close in on the lead, and North led by just three at halftime. And after a slow start to the second half, it was more of the same from the Titans.
The Blue Knights pulled within one at 29-28 before the Titans closed the third quarter on a 12-4 run.
“Early in the second half, it didn’t look so hot,” Otocka said. “We took a couple of quick jump shots, but then we got it together and started going to the basket. That’s higher percentage shot all the time.”
West would get no closer than nine points the rest of the way as North was deliberate in its offensive sets, taking its time before moving to the basket.
Being able to hang on for the win was something the coaches and players were pleased about afterward.
“Every game we’ve lost, except for a couple, have been close games in the fourth quarter,” Pratt said. “We’ve been up in the fourth quarter and this time we stuck it out and pulled it out as a team.”
North's Javon Williams tries to get around the Manchester West defense.
Otocka made sure that everyone on the North bench was aware of what the situation was going into the fourth quarter.
“Before the fourth quarter, I said ‘see this is right where we’ve been,’” he said. “We lost five games out of six, and four games were exactly like this. Its composure and knowing what we need to do to succeed at the end of the game. The difference is it worked out this game.”
The Titans finish up the season by heading to Manchester Central on Tuesday before Timberlane Regional visits North for the final home game of the year.
