Nashua South's Jaden Murphy (21) loses the handle against the double team of Pinkerton's Will Warriner (23) and Aidan Kane during Tuesday night's 60-36 Astros win at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The Nashua High School South boys basketball team began the week with a period of 24 hours it would like to forget.

After falling to Timberlane on the road on Monday, the Panthers came home Tuesday but ran smack into a sea of red called the Pinkerton Astros, who are now 5-0 after a 60-36 pasting at the Belanger Gym.

Ouch.

“Yep,” South coach Nate Mazerolle said. “Internal strife and crisis of confidence. That’s what it boils down to. … We have some guys who are part of it, want to fight, play hard, and other guys who we’ve got to bring them into the mix, get them into the fold.”

It didn’t help that this Pinkerton team under first year head coach David Chase is tall, quick, and, well, pretty darn good, at least they seem to be. They jumped out to leads of 7-0, 13-2, led 15-3 after one, 34-11 at the half, and 46-25 after three.

“Our game plan was we wanted to run,” Mazerolle said, his team now 5-5. “I saw them play, our big gym, with their size, that was our plan. We knew we couldn’t play with their size for a full 32 minutes, but we certainly, on our big floor, wanted to get up and run.”

But then the Panthers found out the hard way that the tall Astros, who have 6-7,6-6, 6-6 and a couple of 6-4s to throw at you, aren’t slow just because they’re big.

“They’re more than their size,” Mazerolle said. “They can shoot it, they’re athletic, they can run. Dave’s doing a nice job in such a short period of time.”

Remember, this is a team that has only won a handful of games the last couple of years combined.

“They’re starting to buy in,” Chase said. “It’s taking us three or four weeks of the season, but they’re starting to share the basketball, starting to like each other, and whenever you get to that point you’re starting to develop a program.

“It was awesome today. We executed, got out to a good jump … Just making the extra pass we got some wide open looks and they started to fall.”

Jackson Marshall led the Astros with 11 points, while Justin Dunne added nine and Anthony Chinn had eight. Alex Hulfachor led South with 11 while Rhett Medling had eight.

“For whatever reason, whether it’s great defense, confidence, our shooting percentage the last few games has just been nightmarish,” Mazerolle said. “We’re getting some good looks, close looks, free throws, you name it. We’re just not making anything.”

And now the Panthers, who see this team Friday in Derry, will regroup.

“Now,” Mazerolle said, “we just come to practice tomorrow and get better.”

“That’s sport,” Chase said. “Things start to go well, it just kind of escalates, and everybody gets going.”

That’s also the opposite of South’s 24 hours of pain.