Nashua North's Jaden Pena and his Titan teammates will look to find an opening to a championship against top seed Pinkerton in today's Division I finals at UNH. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

They made a bit of history the other night at Exeter High School, and now the Nashua North boys basketball team would love to make even more.

The No. 3, 17-4 Titans became the first North boys hoop team ever — plus the first Nashua public high school team since the Split 20 years ago — to reach the Division I finals as they beat Bedford, 84-68 for their 13th straight win this past Wednesday.

Now they’d like to be the first North hoop team to win a title today at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gym at 4 p.m. Standing in the way literally will be No. 1, 19-1 Pinkerton and the Astros’ big 6-9 center and career 2,000 point scorer Jackson Marshall.

But the Titans the last few days have been enjoying the fact they finally got past the semifinal round on their third straight try.

“We get to play until the end of the season,” Lane said the other night. “We’re going to be the last team to play in Division I. Practice two more days, Play one more day. This is ridiculous.”

The Bedford Bulldogs might agree, as North handed them just their second loss this year, thanks to 26 points from center Robinson Rodriguez and 24 from Parth Miglani, both juniors. North grabbed the lead for good midway through the second quarter, leading 40-33 at the half and 60-50 going into the final quarter.

“They’re a resilient bunch,” Lane said of his players, who were 4-4 after a loss at home to Keene in mid-January. “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 (Wednesday). The defensive effort is the key.”

They’ll need that effort vs. Pinkerton, which beat Trinity in the semis but set a tourney mark with 101 points in eliminating Nashua South in the quarterfinals. The Astros and Titans, however, did not meet during the regular season. Marshall did score 36 points when Pinkerton eliminated North in the semifinals last year.

Playing in Lundholm usually brings out results not seen during the regular season and earlier round tourney games.

“There’s a lot of factors,” Lane said. “There’s the pressure, there’s more people in building, there’s the brighter lights. A lot of things happen. It affects kids differently.”

Lane knows his Titans are going up against a Pinkerton team that besides Jackson has other players like guards Andrew and Cristian Brander and Charles Ludden.

“Super solid,” he said. “They shoot it real well, they’re athletic, they get the ball in positions where they need to get it at certain times, and obviously Jackson demands that … They’re a real good deep team. We’re going to try our best. … We’re tough to keep up with if we get up and down the floor and play like we do.”

And if that happens,more history may be made, something to celebrate for years to come.

“It would be an unbelievably great accomplishment for one of our programs to win this title,” Lane said. “We’re going to give it our best effort, we’re going to go about it the way we do it. If it works out, great. If it doesn’t, so be it.”

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