Nashua South's Zac Castonguay drives past Manchester Central's Mateo Williams during Tuesday night's game at the Belanger Gym. (Photo by Dan Aulbach)

NASHUA — Not even the snow and rain can slow down Nashua South’s guards.

After 35 points from junior Josh Caruso and a double-double from senior point guard Zac Castonguay in their home victory over Trinity last week, the guard duo totaled 60 of the Nashua South Panthers’ 68 points, propelling them past Manchester Central Little Green (1-6) for the 68-63 victory and fifth win of the season (5-2).

While Central surprised the home Belanger Gym crowd with a 22-17 lead at the end of the first quarter off impressive fast break play and quick-paced offense, the Panthers channeled their offense through Castonguay (28 points, 4 of 5 from line), scoring 18 points in the first quarter while Caruso (32 points, 5 of 5 from line, 3 3-pointers) shot the lights out with a 25-point second half.

“They are both supremely competent basketball players as they should be,” said Panthers head coach Nate Mazzerole. “They have great chemistry, they feed off each other.”

Manchester Central head coach Sudi Lett had his team firing on all cylinders in the first half, catching the Panthers off-guard on possessions lasting mere seconds. Senior forwards Asher Zegno (14 points) and Dawon Tyler-Fulse (12 points) thrived off the paint play, but their fast pressure ran flat after entering the second half tied 27-27.

“That’s one of the calling cards of how we play: play hard, play fast,” said Lett. “Looks like we got a little gassed in the second half, so we weren’t able to kind of finish at our strongest.”

The fourth quarter was when Caruso started to hit his stride, including three foul shots after being fouled outside the perimeter and a deep-range triple that put the Panther crowd on their feet. With back-to-back 30-point games, Caruso has made 14 straight free throw attempts, with his second-half surge being just what South needed to hold their five-point lead.

“If you were to just watch Central on film and not know their record, that’s not a 1-6 basketball team,” said Mazzerole. “That’s a good win and we take from that; we got in a hole and we didn’t cave.”

With the win, the Panthers hope to keep the four-game win streak alive, hitting the road on Friday to take on Timberlane at 6:30 p.m.

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