Nashua North boys basketball kept on coming back

Two years ago, the Nashua High School boys basketball team turned in a memorable postseason run, reaching the Division I semifinals as the 15th seed.

While the Titans played some great basketball during that stretch, they also benefited from the return of some players who had been injured for most of the year, perhaps putting themselves where they could have been all along.

Sneaking into the postseason and trying to knock off the top seeds isn't something that teams want to try to do every year. Knowing that made Friday's 57-55 win over Nashua South a little bit more important for North.

Going into the game at 2-5 in the division, a loss wouldn't have been devastating to the Titans, but it sure would have made making the postseason more difficult.

"We needed one," North coach Steve Lane said. "We're still in the mix, we still have a chance."

North opened the season with four straight losses and started the year 1-5, with two of those losses one-point defeats to Salem and Merrimack. Another was a six-point setback against Alvirne.

There were times against South that it looked like the Titans might not even have the opportunity for another narrow defeat. But every time the Panthers seemed poised to blow the game open, North had an answer.

In the first quarter, South took an early 10-4 lead, but North responded with a 9-0 run, capped off by a four-point play from Casey Lane. That helped make it a 14-14 game going into the second quarter, but South was able to pull ahead for a 26-22 lead going into halftime.

The Panthers stretched that lead to 31-23 on a basket by Kevin Genao with 6:27 left in the quarter, but CJ Barrett hit a 3-pointer on North's next possession, starting a 14-6 run that left the game tied at 37.

South stated to pull away again, and a basket by Genao 10 seconds into the fourth capped a 10-1 run by the Panthers, putting them up 47-38. But 13 seconds later, Alonzo Linton converted on a three-point play and got the Titans going on a 14-0 run, which put North up 52-47.

"There was a play, and you could look at 30 different plays in a two-point game, but we got it to (nine) and Alex (Amigo) and Kevin were halfway to a steal," South coach Nate Mazerolle said, "and then the ball bounces to Linton and he makes a layup and we foul him. Those are the ones that keep you up at night."

The game turned frantic in the final minute, as the lead changed hands three times, including on a layup by Skye Boykin with sixth-tenths of a second left that gave North the win.

"The comeback, as far as that goes, I don't think the kids know anything else," Lane said. "They just know how to play hard and hopefully good things happen."

Good things, like keeping the Titans' playoff hopes alive.

"We started to make baskets and get stops, and that's what gave me the opportunity to make that shot," Boykin said. "It's a big game for us. We lost a couple of close games. We just beat our rival, so that's going to give us a push going into (Manchester) Memorial next week."