Karavanic's buzzer beater completes comeback as Nashua South boys basketball beats Bishop Guertin (video)

NASHUA - Daniel Karavanic thought the shot felt good when it left his hand.

The Nashua High School South junior was right, and when his buzzer-beating 3-point attempt found nothing but net, his boys basketball teammates rushed the court to celebrate another come back win.

Down 14 points midway through the third quarter, the Panthers chipped away at Bishop Guertin's lead the rest of the way, taking their first lead since the first three minutes of the game on Karavanic's shot to beat the Cardinals 64-61 in a Division I game Tuesday night.

Karavanic finished with 17 points and Francisco Rodriguez Malagon had 16 points, with the duo combining for all but one of South's points on a 12-2 run late in the third and into the fourth quarter that made it a two-point game.

Shane Lemire added 12 points, including back-to-back baskets in the final 90 seconds that tied the game, and Josh Tripp added nine points. The Panthers (7-6) ended the game with an 11-0 run, holding the Cardinals (11-4) scoreless for the final three-plus minutes to snap Bishop Guertin's nine-game win streak. It's the second Tuesday in a row South rallied from a double-digit deficit to beat a team in the top four in D1.

“We started off well and then Guertin had a great second quarter and won all those toughness plays,” South coach Nate Mazerolle said. “They won the 50-50 balls. They were killing us on the glass, so at halftime, we challenged them. Fittingly, I challenged Daniel the most at halftime, and he just told me (after the game) he won his battle. That’s exactly what we wanted.”

Bishop Guertin got 27 points, including four 3-pointers, from Connor McGowan while Eli Youssef had 13 points and Andre Steinbrueck added 10 points.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot,” Bishop Guertin coach Will Horne said. “A couple of plays here and there that we’ve got to make. Hats off to South, they’re a great team. They've got some great players and they made some really big plays at the end of the game.”

Karavanic, Rodriguez Malagon and Lemire combined for 30 of South's 39 points in the second half.

“That’s what makes our team so special, I think,” Karavanic said. “I just feel like our team is just so well-rounded and we have so many threats all over the floor. I feel like as the season goes on, we’re just going to get more and more dangerous.”

After the first couple of minutes, South looked anything but, as Bishop Guertin overcame a slow start to close the first quarter on a 16-6 run and take an 18-12 lead into the second.

The Panthers got back within three, 20-17, early in the quarter, but the Cardinals went on a 9-0 run to go up 12 points and force a South timeout. Bishop Guertin continued to pour it on after that, going up by as many as 16 points, 37-21, with 1:29 left in the half.

Two free throws by Tripp and a basket by Karavanic got the lead back to 12 at halftime, but thanks in part to a pair of 3s by McGowan, the Cardinals built it back up, taking a 14-point lead on a pair of free throws by Joshua Corriveau with 5:04 left in the third.

And that's when South started chipping away, outscoring Bishop Guertin 18-6 over the next seven-plus minutes to get within two points, 53-51, with 5:52 remaining.

“I don’t think it was necessarily one moment, but we just kept attacking the rim and that’s what I ask them to do all the time,” Mazerolle said. “We’re not a great shooting team. At times we have our moments. They started attacking the rim, we got to the free throw line, and we were finishing a little bit better.”

The Cardinals offense woke up, getting six quick points to go up eight, and after Karavanic and Steinbrueck traded baskets, Bishop Guertin led 61-53 with 3:15 left to play.

Two free throws from Karavanic and a basket by Rigo Challinger cut the lead in half. After Steinbrueck missed a pair of free throws, Lemire scored twice, the second of which tied the game with 42 seconds left.

Bishop Guertin turned the ball over on the next possession, giving South a chance to go ahead with 27.7 seconds to play. The Panthers took a timeout with 7.4 seconds remaining, and after a foul by the Cardinals, South was left to inbound the ball with 4.7 seconds to go.

When the initial inbounds play wasn't open, Rodriguez Malagon found Karavanic across the court beyond the 3-point line. Karavanic took one dribble to his left and let the shot fly.

“I knew it was four seconds when he inbounded it, so I thought I had at least two or three dribbles, but I got enough space on that first one,” Karavanic said. “I just thought it was there. (The shot) felt good.”