Nashua North's Jayden Montgomery soars to the hoop past Nashua South's Dennis Wainaina during Sunday's Battle of the Bridge at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Tough players, tough team.

And on Sunday, they were able to tough one out in the Battle of the Bridge.

“It’s a good quality to have,” Nashua High School North coach Steve Lane said after the Titans pushed their way to a 54-47 win over city rival Nashua South at the Belanger Gym. “It’s a good quality to have, senior leaders that are always looking for each other, looking for the open man, and ball doesn’t go in you have to play defense, and that’s what we did for the majority of the second half.”

“I think we’re used to it by now,” said North point guard Jayden Montgomery, who had nine points but was solid defensively. “We have a lot of seniors on the team, we all step up, we all do our role … Our defense is amazing lately, we’re clicking as a team, we still have a lot of room to grow.”

Indeed, North (10-1, seven straight) jumped out to a 10-2 lead, was up 32-20 at the half, and it certainly looked like it could come close to matching its play in the one-sided 29 point Holiday Tourney final a month ago. But the Panthers hung around, trailed 41-33 after three, but never got closer than seven. North was led by Trevor Labrecque’s 23 points, but he only had five in the second half and would go to the bench with 2:39 remaining after suffering a knee injury falling to the ground after South’s Dennis Wainaina had his fourth block of the night. He left the court afterward with his teammates and an ice wrap on his knee. Lane said it may have been hyperextended and more would be known early this week as Titan Nation held its breath.

North was also without starting forward Jack Sullivan, who was reportedly home sick. But others stepped up, and one of the biggest shots was a 3-pointer by Titan Adrian Lazo that made it 44-35 with just over six minutes to play.

Ironically, the lights dimmed in the fourth due to an electrical issue but not enough to prevent the game from continuing. South could have made this interesting but the Panthers were just 7 of 15 from the line.

“I’d love to be able to be able to say the lights going out affected our free throw shooting,” South coach Nate Mazerolle said. “We’re probably a 70-75 percent free throw shooting team. That and offensive rebounding. In the first half (the Titans) had 14 offensive rebounds, scored 10 points, it was a 12-point game. Let’s be honest, they’re very, very good, they have athletes who go get the ball.”

Mazerolle said he challenged his team at the half to make it a game.

“We fought back,” he said. “That’s what I’ll take from this game against a very good basketball team. But free throws would’ve helped.”

Yes, the Panthers (8-2) needed more scoring but couldn’t find it. But the game wasn’t a blowout.

“In the first half, we made a lot more shots, obviously,” Lane said. “In the second half, they played a lot more zone, and the ball doesn’t go in. When the ball doesn’t go in, you’ve got to do something to counteract that,and our defense was pretty good tonight in the second half.”

It shut down South’s offense when it needed to, players like guards Zach Castonguay and Josh Caruso, who combined for only 28 points.

“We knew those guys were pretty good scorers,” Lane said. “So the situation was we had to shut those guys down.”

Especially Castonguay, who missed the Christmas tourney game due to illness and was a sparkplug with 16 points – but none in the fourth quarter.

“He’s a tough kid to guard,” Lane said. “He gets to the rim, he can shoot it,he’s got a mid-range game. I love the way he’s developed as a player. They’re going to be tough.”

But Lane has Montgomery, who has guided the team through wins in enemy gyms vs. two tough local opponents in the past week.

“I’m glad he’s on my team,” Lane said with a grin.

Tough kid. Tough team.

Newsletter