Hector Longo photo -- Nashua South's Mike Rutstein looks to make a move against Exeter in Wednesday night's Division I state preliminary game.

EXETER – Nate Mazerolle and the Nashua South Panthers didn’t make the trip down Route 101 on Wednesday night just to hang around.

As youthful as the 10th-seeded Panthers might be, they hit Exeter High School with the upset in mind. Mazerolle rolled the dice in the fourth quarter, extending his pressure defense in an attempt to hack into the Exeter lead, it paid quick dividends as South sniffed an upset, actually grabbing a 42-41 lead with 5:44 to play on Rhett Medling’s traditional three-point play.

But No. 7 Exeter remains a menace in Division I, especially on its home floor before its giant, helmeted student section. The hosts hit their stride and closed the game on an impressive 26-16 flurry to claim the preliminary playoff victory, 67-58.

“When you look at the scoreboard, if you lose by one or you lose by 50, you’ve got to take that chance,” said Mazerolle, who flipped the switch from zone to man as the teams moved to the fourth.

“We went on our run third quarter and they went on a little bit of a run (grabbing a 37-34 advantage). I think they were just going to take the air out of the ball and be satisfied with that. Our zone is still evolving, but we just wanted to change the tempo, knowing they were very good at it as well.”

Exeter will travel to Nashua North in the Division I quarters on Saturday.

South (10-9) certainly gave the Blue Hawks all they could handle, paced by the young guns in the backcourt. Sophomore Zach Castonguay had 16 points, including eight in the furious fourth quarter. Freshmen Josh Caruso (15 on 5 3s) and Alize Roig-Cortes (9 on 3 3s) were lethal from long range.

“He’s very, very good. Zach is special,” said Mazerolle. “Both of our smaller guards (Castonguay and Roig-Cortes), they’re gamers. They want the ball. They want to attack the rim. They want to go to the basket. They dictate tempo which we needed to do.”

Exeter, 12-6 in the condensed regular season, is a darn sound basketball team, and the Blue Hawks lived up to the billing.

“They shot the lights out. I mean pull up 3s, (Ryan Luper) had a great game for them,” said Mazerolle.

“There were stretches that we looked like it was going to work a little bit. They made their free throws and made key buckets at the end when we were over-extended in traps. That’s just the sign of a well-coached team. We wanted to pick up the pace, it allowed them to, too.”

For three quarters, it was anyone’s game. The Panthers led 14-13 after one quarter and headed to the halftime break, down a bucket at 22-20.

Back-to-back Caruso triples gave South its largest lead at 28-22 in the early third.

“We did (hang tough), but I hate to say it, and it hurts to even mention it, one of things we talked about the first day of tryouts, free throws and layups, free throws and layups,” said Mazerolle.

South missed some close-in opportunities that certainly would have helped. Meanwhile, Exeter cashed in, hitting 14 of 22 from the stripe, compared to South’s 6 of 14.

Blue Hawk senior Johnny Meyer led all scorers with 23 points, and classmate Aaron Share chipped in 19. Luper, in control of the basketball for most of the night, had 18.

“That’s a good basketball team and a tough place to play,” said Mazerolle. “But this team, I told them at the beginning of the year, we don’t coach effort. I never once had to. It certainly wasn’t a lack of effort.”

You could feel Nashua South maturing as the minutes rolled on. That’s a fact that has to bode well for the coming seasons.

“Yeah, that’s tournament atmosphere,” said Mazerolle. “At one point I looked out we had five non-seniors, and this is a great senior class. Alex (Hulfachor) and Rhett (Medling) have been around four years, and to lose them, those are two people, let alone basketball players, that we will miss, more than words can say right now.”