Nashua South's Alex Hulfachor loses the handle as Nashua North's Trevor Labrecque (24) and Sam McEllliott eye the loose ball during the Titans' 70-56 win Sunday at North. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Never underestimate the power of a good rivalry.

Hardly any fans or atmosphere were present for Sunday’s Nashua High School North-South boys basketball game at Titans gym.

But that didn’t matter to the Titans, many of whom remembered losing to South the last couple of seasons and got some satisfaction back in the form of a 70-56 win over the Panthers.

“The last two years they’ve gotten us, so we obviously had to come in this year and get them back,” said Titan senior Curtis Harris-Lopez, who scored 27 points while teammate Sam McElliott added 20. “We played pretty good, and obviously we pushed the pace back and forth. We played good defense, had some great stops, and we scored off the turnovers and stuff, that’s what got us the win.”

But Harris-Lopez and other Titans who remember those losses probably were worried about a repeat after trailing South, 33-31 at the half.

But a strong 12-2 run to start the third quarter, keyed by Harris-Lopez, put the Titans up 43-35. South’s Jeremiah Mitchell tried to keep the Panthers in it with a couple of treys but North, up 49-45 with 2:55 left in third, finished the period with an 8-0 run and they never looked back, up 57-45 after three. Also keying things were three 3-pointers, late third and early fourth, by Titan Spencer Labrecque.

For 2-1 North, it was more like the way it played in its opening night rout of Alvirne, who turned around and beat the Titans on Friday night.

“I just think we convereted more than we did a couple of nights ago at Alvirne,” North coach Steve Lane said. “You’re not going to win many games shooting in the 20s or low 30s percentage wise. We made some more shots today.

“We made a few shots. We made some perimeter shots that made them extend a little bit. The Labrecque (Spencer) kid hit a couple of threes to open it up a little bit and then we were able to get to the win a little bit more.”

And that was the problem. The 1-2 Panthers and their coach, Nate Mazerolle, don’t like it when they look up at the scoreboard and see the opponent finishing with 70 points.

“We didn’t defend, Spence Labrecque had three huge 3s. … I think that set the tone,” Mazerolle said. “Then we lost a little energy at both ends of the floor. …

“We did not play well. They were the harder-working team.”

Harris-Lopez was expected to be a big factor for the Titans, but McElliott was a role player last year who now is front and center.

“Definitely, I worked a lot harder over the summer to get to this role,” McElliott said. “It’s just fun to be able to do this now this year.”

South trailed 20-18 after one but six second quarter points by Zach Castonguay helped give the Panthers a 33-31 lead. South was led by Alex Hulfachor’s 12 points and 10 each by Castonguay and Jaden Murphy.

Meanwhile, Harris-Lopez and McElliott are clearly the sparks that make the Titan offense purr.

“Curtis and Sam are obviously the catalysts as far as how we play,” Lane said. “And the speed that we play and that’s what we preach every day. The pace has to be for us.”

“We knew that coming in,” Mazerolle said. “The number one thing we had to do today was sprint back (on defense). We didn’t.”

The two teams will meet again next Sunday at 1 p.m., and while there are other games in between, you can bet the tape of yesterday’s game will be closely examined, especially at South.

“Looking forward to it,” Mazerolle said. “We’ll probably talk about it once or twice.”