Nashua North's Zion Melendez leads the celebration late in the Titans' Division I semifinal win over Bedford Wednesday at Exeter High School. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

EXETER – The trip was the same. The hallway was the same. The classroom that served as a locker room was the same.

But the result wasn’t. No, this time in the Division I semifinals at Exeter High School, the Nashua North boys basketball team left the court a winner, 84-68 over No. 2 Bedford.

The Titans are finals bound for the first time ever.

Remember, they had lost two years ago to eventual champion Goffstown in this round here, and again to runnerup Pinkerton in 2023. Now they get to take on the No. 1 Astros Sunday at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gym at a time to be announced today. Pinkerton (19-1), whom the Titans did not play, beat Trinity 82-71 in the other semi.

“I told my teammates before the game that I wasn’t going to let it happen again,” North junior Parth Miglani, who played on the previous two Titan teams that lost here but had 24 points last night. “I was part of the teams that lost here in the same gym, same position. I couldn’t go through that pain, or put my teammates through that pain again.”

Instead of that pain, the 17-4 Titans, winners now of 13 straight, are one win away from the ultimate gain. They trailed 21-20 after one period, but then pulled away for a 40-33 halftime lead. Then, while keeping the vaunted Bedford runnng game to a minimum, they stormed out to a 65-55 lead after three.

“They’re a resilient bunch,” North coach Steve Lane said. “We’ve been rolling for awhile, and I think a major difference is our effort defensively, it was ridiculous good. Especially it shows up on a night like tonight. The defensive effort is the key.”

And a lot of that was sparked by junior Luke Peters, who held Bedford and one of the state’s best scorers, Bulldog senior Luke Soden, to 13 measly points.

“A huge accomplishment,” Lane said. “Almost an impossible accomplishment.”

In fact, Bedford was led by 14 each by Niko Badoian and Austin Kasyjanski, showing very limited scoring. Besides their defense, the shooting of Miglani, the other huge factor was the play of junior center Robinson Rodriguez. He fouled out early in the fourth quarter of the team’s 81-76 loss at Bedford two months ago, but that wasn’t the case last night as he had 26 points, mainly in the paint, and was just a huge factor on both ends of the floor. Oh, and he only had two fouls.

“We watched a lot of first game film, or I did,” North coach Steve Lane said. “His five fouls and fouling out early in the fourth quarter was a major factor in the game over there.”

As his not doing that was as big a factor last night.

“It was all about walling up and keeping my hands straight,” Rodriguez said about avoiding foul issues. “Just not getting really much into contact. We knew they were going to drive a lot, especially Luke Soden, Brady (O’Connell). So I just knew I just had to keep my hands up, the offense will come, obviously. That’s it.”

“He finishes underneath, he’s long, he blocks shots (three last night), disrupts things, rebounds well, he really made a difference,” Bedford coach Frank Moreno said.

So did the fact the Bedford offense was completely out of sorts, thanks to North’s defense.

“We weren’t hitting shots tonight and they hit everything,” Moreno said. “I don’t know what their shooting percentage was from 3 but it had to be up in the 60s.I don’t think we played bad, but we just couldn’t hit shots and they hit everything.”

“He did, he did,” Moreno said. “They scouted us well, they kind of packed it in the paint a little bit which disrupted a lot of our drive stuff. Steve’s one of the best coaches in the state, hats off to him. He coached them up really well, they did great. They executed really well … And we couldn’t buy buckets.

“We try to rebound and run, but when they hit shots, it slows everything down.”

Nashua North’s Jaden Pena looks to go up for two vs. Bedford’s Landon Ellsmore (15) during Wednesday night’s Division I semifinals in Exeter. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Back-to-back 3’s by Miglani and Jaden Pena, the senior point guard who had 18 points, gave the Titans a 15-point lead. It got back to single digits, but then Peters hit a trey toward the end of the period and it gave North a 10-point lead heading into the final eight minutes. Another 3, this one by Alize Roig-Cortes, gave the Titans a 72-57 lead with 5:09 to play. That was it.

Many had looked all season at Pinkerton and Bedford as the teams headed toward a probably title game matchup. But there were the Titans, who talked about the slight all week.

“Almost every second in practice,” Lane said with a grin. “It was a motivating factor, but I think the kids knew we’d been in this position before, and we’d come out of this locker room disappointed. Tonight was a little bit different, and it worked out.”

Against a team they had lost a highly competitive battle with back on Jan. 5.

“In the first game we were missing the big guy,” Miglani said. “But we’re just clicking a lot more now, we’re shooting better, all polished in our roles, playing together.”

And playing for a championship on Sunday.

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