Pinkerton boys basketball bounces back with win over Nashua South

DERRY - It was a herky jerky game from start to finish, and it was the Pinkerton Academy boys basketball team's size on the inside that proved to be the difference Friday night, as the Astros beat Nashua South 46-36 at Hackler Gymnasium.

Pinkerton never trailed but also never made it easy. A 10-2 lead after the first quarter disappeared, and the teams went into halftime tied at 15. The Astros opened up a 14-point lead in the third quarter only for the Panthers to close it to seven in the fourth before free throws iced the game.

“We've got to find ourselves,” Pinkerton coach David Chase said. “I’m not trying to be negative, but we’re about ourselves and not about our team. We all want the ball. We all want to shoot it. We’re not playing as a team right now. We struggled. We do a nice job for a minute or two sharing the basketball, getting easy looks. And then somebody decides it's time for them to get theirs and we give up baskets. Then we make a mistake and we foul.”

When the Astros flowed, they were unstoppable. In the third quarter, when the Astros had their largest lead, they only turned the ball over once. In the second quarter, when they lost an eight-point lead, the Astros turned the ball over seven times.

Pinkerton (6-1) also had a rough night from beyond the arc, shooting 5 of 14 from deep.

However, when Pinkerton flourished it was sophomore guard Anthony Chinn at the forefront. Chinn had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and he added a pair of steals for good measure. He was helped on offense by a 12-point, eight-rebound performance from senior Justin Dunne.

“That’s the summary of our season so far,” Chinn said. “Sometimes we’re bad and sometimes we’re really, really good. In the first half we were in the mud, and in the second half, coach gave us a great halftime speech, and I think that fueled us to keep getting stronger.”

The Panthers refused to go until the final horn. Despite losing by 24 to Pinkerton earlier in the week, and getting outrebounded 36-29, South didn’t let the poor first quarter keep them down. The Panthers scored the first 10 points of the second quarter and had a chance to take the lead going into halftime but a last-second 3 just missed dropping in.

Senior guard Cody Rocheleau led the charge for the Panthers. He had eight points during the second quarter and finished with a game-high 18 points for South. Junior Alex Hulfachor chipped in eight points of his own for South.

“Even when we were down 10-2 after the first quarter our guys kept fighting and they worked their tails off,” Nashua South coach Nate Mazerolle said. “They did everything we asked. The fight, the effort was all there. (Pinkerton) is huge. Their size hurt us.”