Explosive fourth quarter lifts Nashua South basketball to win over Alvirne

HUDSON – There was a lot for Nate Mazerolle to like about his Nashua High School boys basketball team’s 74-60 win Thursday night over Alvirne.

The Panthers twice overcame deficits to take the lead, including at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and got a 30-point night from point guard Tim Preston.

South outscored Alvirne 23-8 in the final eight minutes, but it was some other explosiveness in the fourth that was on Mazerolle’s mind after the game.

With 2:16 left in the game, a handful of players from both sides dove for a loose ball. The officials blew the whistle for a jump ball and the Panthers, having the possession arrow, called a timeout.

But as the timeout was being signaled by Mazerolle, a scuffle broke out amongst the players on the floor. A few South players wandered off the bench before one of the officials motioned for them to stop.

In the end, South’s Dan Auger received a technical foul for the on-the-floor action and South’s Jack Preston was ejected from the game for leaving the bench. Preston had already received a technical earlier in the game for excessive celebration following a dunk.

“I take it as a great road win,” Mazerolle said. “It’s all the extracurricular stuff that is very frustrating. We’re senior-led and experienced, and I’ve preached against that stuff all the time. We just put ourselves in such a bad situation. It was a highly-contested game, a rivalry, but we should know better.”

NHIAA by-laws state that any player disqualified from a game or event will not be allowed to participate in the team’s next contest.

“I’m not optimistic,” Mazerolle said of whether Jack Preston will be able to play in South’s next game. “We were pretty sure there was a misunderstanding in terms of the ejection.

“We thought it was a timeout, we were playing well, my kids ran out on the floor, but they’ve got to know better than that. He was on the floor before anything happened because he thought it was a timeout and he was going to congratulate his teammates.”

Preston finished the game with 17 points, including seven in the fourth quarter, and David Dunham had 14 points, while Tim Preston was 10 of 11 from the free throw line. As a team, South (8-1 in Division I) was 20 of 25.

“That is huge because we went through a stretch where (free throw shooting) really hurt us,” Mazerolle said. “That has been our Achilles’ heel. That got us the lead (in the first half) and was really the only thing we had going for us.”

The Panthers came out flat, falling behind Alvirne 9-0 in the first 3:27 of the game. Tyler Livingston had 10 of his team-high 18 points in the first quarter and the Broncos (5-4) led 16-7 with less than two minutes remaining in the frame.

But the lead wouldn’t last. Two free throws by Alex Wetmore early in the second game Alvirne an 18-13 lead, but an 8-0 run by South gave the Panthers their first advantage of the game and they led 31-28 at halftime.

The Broncos charged back in front in the second half, as Alec Yoksh (16 points) hit four 3-pointers to open the third quarter, giving Alvirne a 42-35 lead with 4:41 lead left in the third.

South stayed close and managed to pull ahead late in the quarter, but two free throws by Tyler Brown (13 points) put the Broncos up 52-51 going into the fourth.

It would be the last points Alvirne scored for nearly three minutes, and the Broncos went almost10 minutes without a field goal.

“I thought we played tough and we played smarter,” Alvirne coach Seth Garon said. “If we can put 32 minutes of basketball together, we can be very good. We came out in the first half, second half we came out, but we lost our flow. We weren’t rebounding the basketball like we were early on and that hurt us.”

The Panthers opened the fourth quarter with a 12-0 run, getting eight points from Tim Preston and four more from Jack Preston as Alvirne turned the ball over five times in the first 90 seconds of the quarter.

“We didn’t change anything,” Mazerolle said. “Defensively, it’s so simple, it’s just an effort thing. In the first half, three guys would be pressing and two guys would be walking it back up the floor and they’d get an easy outlet. There was a sense of urgency and when there is a sense of urgency, we’re pretty good.”

Brown stopped Alvirne’s scoreless stretch with two free throws to make it a nine-point game with 5:02 to play, but a dunk at the other end by Jack Preston put South up by 11 and the Broncos never got closer.

“We’ve got to eliminate giving the ball away,” Garon said. “They played better the last eight minutes of the game, that’s the bottom line. The Preston kid killed us. He had 30 points and he was setting up his guys nicely.”

Alvirne will try to bounce back on Tuesday at Timberlane.

For the Panthers, they’ll have a week to prepare for Nashua North.

“That was a character-building win if you can forget about everything else,” Mazerolle said. “They responded. Tim Preston was great. Nick Penkala played great defense. Cam Joyal, Robbie Smyth off the bench did a great job. Auger singlehandedly kept us in (the game) in the first half with his toughness and going for loose balls and rebounds.

“I loved it all and I should be walking out of here stoked for the win, but I’m already worried about the aftermath.”