Manchester Memorial boys basketball wins offensive showcase over Nashua North
NASHUA - For the second game in a row, the Nashua High School North boys basketball team waited until the second half to heat up on offense.
Unfortunately for the Titans, their defense couldn't do the same.
North set a season high in points for the second straight game, but Manchester Memorial was able to outpace the Titans Monday for a 93-83 victory in Division I action.
Jordan Lates scored a game-high 39 points for North (5-12), making 13 field goals, including five 3-pointers, while shooting 8 of 9 from the free throw line. Matt Lavallee added 12 points for the Titans, but no one else was in double figures.
Memorial (7-9) got 28 points from Trevon Maughn and Kabongo Ngalukukondi added 22 points as the Crusaders had five players score in double figures.
The teams combined to make 66 field goals - 13 of which were 3-pointers - and while North outscored Memorial 34-31 in the fourth quarter, the Crusaders were 20 of 32 from the free throw line.
"If you were going to tell me we would score 83 points, I'd think we have a pretty good chance," North coach Steve Lane said. "We had a tough time guarding them. Their quickness and strength neutralized any of our chances to guard them on a one-on-one basis. We had to get helter skelter and pick up the tempo and they kept getting easy bucket after easy bucket. We weren't very sharp defensively by any means, which led to giving up what seems like a thousand points in transition."
The Crusaders topped 80 points in a game for the fifth time this season, while it was just the fifth time that North has surpassed the 60-point plateau. The Titans also scored nearly 30 points above their season average.
North did that despite having just two points for the first 4:30 of the game. The Titans trailed 10-2 before they went on a 13-5 run to tie the game at 15 on a 3 by Lates early in the second. Memorial answered with an 8-0 run, and after North cut the lead to four a few times, the Crusaders closed the half on an 11-5 run to make it a 36-26 game at the break.
"We've been working on our offensive efficiency quite a bit over the last month," Lane said. "I tend to stress defense a lot and they aren't always happy with me. We've had some troubles scoring the basketball. We had to take a different approach to how we attacked the rim and they've done a nice job attacking the rim with the dribble."
The Crusaders led by as many as 16 in the third quarter, and by no less than 12, but North opened the fourth with a 12-6 run that made it a 68-61 game with 5:38 left to play. Memorial answered with a 13-3 run of its own, with Maughn scoring 12 of those points, including back-t0-back 3-pointers.
The Titans stayed in it, but every time it looked like they would close the gap, Memorial put together enough of a run to keep a comfortable lead.
Unlike Friday, when North knocked off Bishop Guertin in overtime, 75-73, the Titans weren't able to overcome a slow start.
"We were so ineffective offensively and (Monday) was more of the same thing," Lane said. "We didn't make many shots. I don't know how we got to 83. We're trying to run up and down, but their athletes just outdid us."
