Friday was a nice, casual practice in Titans Gym at Nashua High School North.

The building was pretty much empty late in the afternoon. Oh, a coach or two from other sports peeked in to show their support. Other than that, it was head coach Steve Lane, assistant Chris Gaudreau and 12 kids shooting, running, practicing free throws, pretty fun, easy stuff. The heavy lifting would be Saturday with film, etc.

What would these kids otherwise be doing?

“Oh my God,” North senior point guard Jaden Pena said. “What would I be doing? I guess I’ll never know to be honest with you.”

The fact is he and the others have never known what this is like, being one of only two Division I teams in the state still practicing.

And today, still playing, for the final time this season, when they take the floor against the powerful Pinkerton Astros at 4 p.m. for the all the Division I marbles at UNH’s Lundholm Gym.

It’s pretty special and should have the city of Nashua’s attention. Yes, we’ve had Bishop Guertin teams on both the boys and girls side in the finals and win titles, but the fact is the Titans are the first Nashua public school team to be playing in either a boys or girls Division I hoop title game in 20 years, since 2004 when the one Nashua High girls won it all. First boys team since the 2002 Nashua team beat BG, and that wasn’t at Lundholm, but at the Whittemore Center.

The fact is, the North boys are the first post-Split Nashua hoop team to play for a title. Period.

Think back to a time when it was about 25 degrees colder out, two months ago. Coming off two seasons in which they were stopped short in the semis, the Titans were 4-4, having lost a heartbreaker to Keene by a point at home and facing a hot Nashua South team in two days. The coaching staff felt the team lacked identity.

They haven’t lost since.

Who would’v thought they’d be in the championship game back then? As Lane said, “It’s ridiculous.”

It really is, but it’s clear to see why. This team really, really, really gets after it. Lane preaches defensive effort and tenacity, and this team has it. Enough to handle a 6-foot-9 scoring machine like Pinkerton’s Jackson Marshall? We’ll see, but how can you doubt them?

The Titans jumped out to an 11-2 lead before Bedford’s shooting got them back in it in the semis at Exeter last week. But then the Titans’ defense really frustrated the usually high-flying Bulldogs, and North was the team hitting its shots.

“I think they’ll give whoever they play on Sunday a run for their money, for sure,” Bedford coach Frank Moreno said after that one, before the Astros beat Trinity in the other semi. “(Lane) will put a game plan in place.”

In the meantime, the fun ride takes them all the way to Durham. It’s a close-knit group that has for the most part spent every day together since late November. “I’m so surprised,” North junior Luke Peters said. “I didn’t think this would happen from the first game of the season. But we’re a brotherhood. … But honestly, it’s Lane. He pushes us so much. I love him as a coach.”

And Lane loves this group of players, because they’ve embraced what had to be done.

“They figured out that if they wanted to be a little more successful, they had to defend,” Lane said. “We don’t have a lot of height, we don’t have a lot of size. They had to defend, had to rebound, they had to play the style that I brought here 14 years ago to get up and down the floor. They’ve really sucked it in and enjoyed it.”

So Peters, Pena, kids like Parth Miglani, Robinson Rodriguez, etc. were all in the gym on Friday on what felt like a spring day, and had to get up for an early morning practice on Saturday. And loving it.

Normally, there’d be not much else going on for hoop junkies like Pena.

“I’d probably be back home, chillin’ with the fam right now,” he said, still grinning. “It’s nice outside, maybe it’d be like vacation.”

But what’s more fun, that or prepping for the biggest game of his and his teammates basketball lives?

“This,” Pena said. “Practicing basketball.”

There you go. See you in Durham.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X (formerly twitter) @Telegraph _TomK.

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