Pinkerton giant Jackson Marshall made life tough for Nashua South last Saturday, including Panther Daniel Karavanic, left. Now it's Nashua North's turn to deal with him in Sunday's Division I final. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – He is the player everyone talks about when preparing to play the Pinkerton Academy Astros.

And now it’s the Nashua High School North basketball team’s turn, once again, to figure out how to stop 6-foot-9 Astro senior Jackson Marshall.

Marshall helped eliminate the Titans from last year’s tourney in the semifinals, and now they’ll see him on the biggest stage of all, the Division I finals at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gym.

“All I’m going to say is he deserves to be Player of the Year in New Hampshire, I don’t think anyone has had a year like him,” Lane said. “Not since (former Concord great and NBA player Matt) Bonner. Statistically he’s been better than Bonner, even 25 years ago. I’m not saying he’s going to be a pro, but statistically there’s been nobody as dominant as Jackson Marshall this year.”

Despite teams doing everything they can to try to stop him. Last year Marshall had 36 points in the Astros’ 75-55 semifinal win vs. North, and just last weekend he had a 40-point game – including the 2,000th of his career – in a 101-83 quarterfinal win over Nashua South.

“I give the kid a lot of credit,” Lane said. “He gets hammered, he gets hacked, he gets fouled every day. And for the most part, I believe from what I’ve seen watching multiple films, the way he’s gone about it has gotten more and more professional, more and more businesslike as opposed to being annoyed at what goes on there. He’s a helluva player.”

Remember, the two teams did not face each other this year, but there’s always the tale of the tape. Has he changed from a year ago?

“On film, yes, I can tell he looks like he’s more mature,” Lane said. “He looks like physically he’s in that leadership role. Obviously he’s the best player we’ve had in a long time around here, so Sunday’s going to be if not an impossible task, and impossible task, just keeping him at bay.”

PENA ON A ROLL

Lane heaped praise on senior guard Jaden Pena, the only starter the team graduates. After a slow start,his improvement mirrors the team’s winning streak.

“He’s had a phenomenal second half of our season, an integral part of what we’ve done,” Lane said. “He’s really turned himself into a really humble, grateful young man. I’m proud of him.”

Pena has a lot of responsibility on the floor, setting the pace as the point guard. “And he’s really changed how he’s gone about his business,” Lane said, “with school and life. This is just a stepping stone for him.”

And Pena, who was selected to play in the post-season All-Star Senior Game, has had a blast.

“It’s been a thrill,” Pena said. “I love these guys to death. It’s like being with my family every day. Amazing.”

Pena isn’t too surprised about how the Titans took off the second half of the year, winners of 13 straight.

“To be honest, I knew we always had it in us the whole season, from the start,” he said. “It’s just a matter of whether we could do it.”

He’s enjoyed his role.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “There’s a lot coming in. I had Jayden Montgomery, my true friend, he was really talented last year. Coming in and filling that big of a role, it was a lot. But it’s played out, and obviously I’m enjoying it.”

MISSING HENDERSON

Certainly still in the Titans’ thoughts is the memory of late longtime assistant coach Mike Henderson, who passed away this past fall after a lengthy illness. He had been Lane’s righthand man from the start some 14 years ago, and it’s certainly been an adjustment.

“It’s just different, Lane said. “But I get little comments from the kids once in a while like ‘That’s what Hendu would do’ or ‘That’s how Hendu would treat us.’ And it means a lot to Coach (assistant Chris) Gaudreau and I.

“It means even more to some of these kids when they came in as freshman and Hendu was aggressive, he was old school. Some of these kids really enjoyed how he would grab them before practice and make them do extra drills. The way he went about telling kids the way to do things.

“This is like, kind of a really surprising gift for the program, and to get to this point in our year and still have him still in our thoughts, it’s great.”

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