Nashua South boys basketball beats Bedford for much-needed win (video)

NASHUA - There were a couple of things the Nashua High School South boys basketball needed to do Tuesday night in order to beat Bedford.

But what it all came down to was one thing - the Panthers were going to have to work hard, perhaps harder than they have all season.

After a slow start, and some inspiring words from its veteran players, South turned things around and battled the Bulldogs down the stretch before coming away with a 68-65 win over Bedford in a Division I game.

Down as many as 10 points early in the second quarter, the Panthers (5-6) went on a 20-8 run to take their first lead of the game with 90 seconds left before halftime, and from there, neither team five points the rest of the way.

“For the last two days of practice, we’ve worked on hard work,” South coach Nate Mazerolle said. “We’ve had a couple of games where we felt like we lost an opportunity because we may have been the more talented team, but we weren’t the harder working team. That was a focal point. Against a team like that, that’s the only way you can get a win.”

Francisco Rodriguez Malagon led the Panthers with 16 points while Shane Lemire added 14 points, including two 3-pointers, and Daniel Karavanic had 10 points despite sitting almost all of the third quarter in foul trouble.

Josh Tripp and Rigo Challinger each had nine points while Collin Langer had four points, all in the third quarter in place of Karavanic.

Logan O'Connell led all scorers with 26 points, including four 3s, for Bedford (11-2), which lost back-to-back games for the first time since late January of 2022. Ryan O'Rourke added 15 points and Landon Ellsmore was in double figures with 10 points.

Both teams struggled to score early but Bedford found its offense in the second part of the first quarter, going up 14-6 before a basket in the final seconds by Tripp made it a six-point game after one.

The Bulldogs wasted no time getting the lead to 10 points to start the second, scoring twice in the first minute to take an 18-8 lead, and Mazerolle took a timeout just 46 seconds into the quarter.

“I think the leaders got louder,” the coach said. “I got louder, certainly, but Josh Tripp got quite vocal. Daniel Karavanic did as well. I think the ball movement was a little better. I think there was a sense of urgency, which we too often, we don’t have, and we found that led to some easy baskets.”

Rodriguez Malagon got it started, hitting a 3 out of the timeout, and Tripp and Challinger followed during South's run. After the Panthers were back within one, O'Rourke came up with a dunk in transition that seemed like it might swing momentum.

But South answered with a 3 from Karavanic and a basket by Lemire to pull ahead for the first time.

“We changed everything,” Rodriguez Malagon said of the second-quarter run. “We changed the defense, the energy.”

Bedford responded to take a 33-30 lead into halftime, but South didn't take long to pull back in front, and after the teams traded the lead four times, the Panthers took a 47-46 lead into the fourth.

A pair of free throws by Rodriguez Malagon with 5:24 remaining gave South its biggest lead, 55-50, but O'Connell wiped it out in just over a minute, going a 6-0 run by himself to give Bedford a 56-55 lead.

It was tied at 61 after Lemire and O'Connell traded 3s, but baskets by Rodriguez Malagon and Will McKenney put the Panthers up 65-61.

Down three with in the final seconds, Ellsmore was forced to take a deep 3 to try to tie, but the shot was off the mark. The Bulldogs got the rebound and got the ball out to Luke O'Connell, who hit his 3-point attempt, but it came well after the final buzzer.

South now has played seven games decided by fewer than 10 points this season, going 4-3, but one of those losses was last Friday, when the Panthers fell to North on a buzzer beater. Following it up with a win like Tuesday night could go a long way, or at least that's the hope for South.

“I really liked the energy, the effort, the simple stuff that sometimes we take for granted,” Mazerolle said. “I think this only builds the confidence much more as we move forward.”