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Panthers outlast Dover in double overtime, 61-56

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Feb 5, 2020

Telegraph photo by TOM KING Nashua South's Andres Hulfachor goes up for two against Dover's Darian Lopez-Sullivan during the Panthers' 61-56 double overtime win Tuesday night at the Belanger Gym.

NASHUA – It wasn’t the Battle of the Bridge, but Tuesday night’s double overtime 61-56 Nashua High School South boys basketball win over Dover was a battle nontheless.

“We just fought through,” said Alex Hulfachor, who sent the game to a second extra session with a clutch 3-pointer. “That’s our team chemistry, man. That’s all team chemistry. We have that mutual bond, and are ready to battle through adversity at any point, and we’re never out of a game.”

But it didn’t look great after the Panthers, now 6-4 heading into Friday night’s anticipated showdown with rival Nashua North, squandered a 32-22 halftime lead with just 16 second half points and were down in both the final minute of regulation and the first OT. Ivan Nyantenji (11 points) saved them with a driving layup with 18 seconds left to send things to overtime tied at 48. But the Panthers looked doomed after Dover

‘s Sam Krick buried a trey to give the Green Wave (4-6) a 54-51 lead with 46 seconds left in the first OT.

But Dover didn’t leave the Belanger Gym with a win, mainly because the Green Wave took only four trips to the foul line, compared to 27 times for South. The point disparity was 20-3 as South never reached the penalty in the second half and extra sessions. It negated a fine 20-point night by Dover junior Kingsley Breen.

“Yup, it happens,” Dover coach Matt Fennessy said. “I felt like our guys were attacking the rim, we weren’t settling for 3’s. … I thought we played better defense than we’ve played. And we were talking to the guys (in the first OT), there’s still 30 seconds, anything can happen.”

And it did. And in the second overtime, the Panthers, who were led by senior Andres Hulfachor’s 20 points, went 7-for 10 to prevail. The senior Hulfachor hit one freebie to give the Panthers the lead for good, 55-54, 41 seconds into the second OT.

Those free throws saved South.

“Free throws, some guys stepping up and making some free throws,” South coach Nate Mazerolle said. “And if I’m not mistaken, (Alex Hulfachor’s trey) was our only 3. We were keeping track, 0 for 11, 0 for 12, stop taking them. We got saved by the one shot we didn’t want to take.”

“Nine seconds, I looked at the clock, I had to catch and shoot, baby,” said the younger Hulfachor, who had 13 points and also hit two big free throws in the deciding OT, said.

Mazerolle says he wants to see more of that from Alex Hulfachor.

“As a sophomore, we want him to be our leader,” Mazerolle said. “Alex runs the show, we need him to get more of a voice.”

But the Panthers avoided voicing any displeasure about a loss heading into Friday’s big rivalry game.

“That would’ve been huge,” Mazerolle said. “But it doesn’t matter how ugly or awful it was, as long as we have more points than they do.”

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