Merrimack's Jack Tarleton loses the ball against Nashua South's Josh Caruso, left, and Rhett Medling during Wednesday's game in Nashua. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Sometimes the game of basketball can be simple.

When Nate Mazerolle asked his Nashua High School South boys basketball team before Wednesday’s matinee with Merrimack what it needed to improve on, the players volunteered “Free throws.”

The Panthers improved enough, hitting 23 of 33 to beat a tough Tomahawk team, 57-51, at the Belanger Gym for their fifth straight win to improve to 10-7.

South, which trailed 39-35 going into the fourth quarter, simply took what the officials gave it – a 25-6 foul disparity in the second half. The Panthers hit 10 of 11 foul shots in the final 2;03.

“We know (free throw shooting) is an issue,” Mazerolle said. “I adjusted the lineup at the end. Certain guys you know, he’s gonna make them. … That’s important. It’s amazing with all the game-planning and the scouting, just make your free throws. It really is a simple game.”

Almost too simple in the Tomahawks’ minds.

“They shot about 25 foul shots, and we didn’t make our foul shots (10 of 20) when we got the opportunity, either. That’s kind of the difference in the game,” Merrimack coach Austin Denton said, his team now 5-12 and wrapping things up Friday vs. Trinity. “All of the sudden, they were in the bonus and we were still at three, so it’s like ‘What’s going on?’ But kids fought hard.”

Zac Castonguay took clear advantage, hitting 5 of 6 from the line down the stretch in the fourth quarter as part of his game-high 21 points. Josh Caruso was the next highest Panther with nine, while Rhett Medling had 13 boards to go with his seven points.

It was tight throughout, as the Panthers led 28-26 at the half. They finally took the lead for good, 45-44, with 3:43 left on an Alize Roig-Cortes layup. That started 7-0 run that put the Panthers in the driver’s seat.

The other factor was the job South did defensively on Merrimack senior scorer Jack Tarleton, often doubling him down low with Mike Rutstein getting the bulk of the work. Tarleton, a consistent 20-points a game scorer, was “held” to 17 points. David Roy added 14.

“Any Nashua-Merrimack game is going to be a tough, physical game,” Mazerolle said. “He’s (Tarleton) a gamer. I just told him I’m glad I don’t have to game plan for him anymore, because he is a player. Mike Rutstein did a fantastic job, Cyris Roig, Karsten Lemire, we tried to throw fresh bodies at him. … He’s very, very good.”

“We had three guys foul out, we played hard,” Denton said. “We played hard. We couldn’t find those buckets at the end of the game. Give our guys credit, we came in and played hard.”

And South, right now, is playing its best basketball of the season at the right time, it seems. The Panthers wrap up the regular season – strange for early February, isn’t it? – on Friday at Pinkerton.

“We’re playing our best basketball,” Mazerolle said. “It was a struggle early … But right now, we’re playing pretty well.”

By keeping it simple.