Bishop Guertin's Sam Woodward, left, and Matt Chau make life tough for Nashua South's Josh Tripp on his way to the hoop during Tuesday night's city clash at the Colligadome. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Nashua High School senior scorer Josh Caruso says he always loves playing at the Colligadome.

That’s not what the Bishop Guertin boys basketball team wants to hear, and they certainly got that impression Tuesday night when Caruso’s 28 points – 21 in the second half – helped the Panthers pull away from the Cards, 71-60.

“No,” Guertin coach Will Horne said. “For sure. For sure. He’s been playing well in here for a long time, he’s four year starter for them. He’s been in this gym before in even bigger games than this.”

How comfortable is Caruso at the Colligadome? Midway through the fourth quarter he hit a seemingly impossible shot, a high floater from a tough angle that dropped in. Panthers coach Nate Mazerolle was about to call time out, but the basket counted and it gave South a nine-point lead. How?

“I don’t know,” Caruso said. “I thought Coach was calling a time out, and we were going to get the time out. I was leaning out of bounds, I kind of just threw up a little floater, maybe we’d get it if it went in. I didn’t think it was going to count. It went in, so it all worked out.”

“I don’t know if I’ve ever coached against anyone like him, but I’ve been on the receiving end of kids who just can’t miss on any given night,” Nashua South coach Nate Mazerolle said. “It’s just nice to have it on your side. Even when I’m calling a time out, there’s no bad shot for him.”

The Panthers, now 10-4 felt in control throughout the game, jumping out to an 18-8 first quarter lead, although the lead was cut in half, 34-29, at the half. When Guertin’s arguably best scorer, Connor McGowan, hit a layup with 4:50 left in the third, it was a 39-38 game, the Panthers only up one. But six straight South points and a 13-5 run to end the quarter pushed BG back.

“Our kids are pretty good at keeping our poise,” Mazerolle said. “As our defense second half of the third into the fourth fell apart, we didn’t panic. Made some nice plays. … We said after the Bedford game we had to execute better on offense. We had some checkpoints we wanted to see in the offense we’re running and I think we ticked them all off. That shows composure.”

“We can’t let the pressure change our game,” Caruso said. “That’s what we did very well.”

“We just kind of let off the gas a little bit,” Horne said of the turnaround. “Guys got a little comfortable, we lost a little of that focus and energy that we had to get us back into the game. They kind of ran away with it, hats off to them. They’re a great team.”

Daniel Karavanic hit a 3-pointer soon after Caruso’s rainbow floater, but it was Shane Lemire’s trey with 2:48 left that made it a 65-53 game and pretty much sealed the deal. Karavanic had 14 points and Lemire 11.

Bishop Guertin’s Connor McGowan tries to drive on Nashua South’s Josh Tripp during Tuesday night’s city clash at the Colligadome. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Bishop Guertin’s Connor McGowan tries to drive on Nashua South’s Josh Tripp during Tuesday night’s city clash at the Colligadome. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

The other key was the defensive job Josh Tripp did on McGowan, as he was held to 11 points. Eli Youssef had a team high 12 and Sam Woodward 10 for BG.

“They had a great game plan for him,” Horne said, his team now 7-8 with just three games left over the final three weeks. “All these kids know each other really well, play against each other at the Y, they see each other at the Boys & Girls Club. These are all kids going against each other and competing and they did a great job against him tonight.

“I think there were some things we could’ve done offensively a little bit better to get him going and we’ll be ready for Keene next week.”

“(Tripp) usually keeps him emotions to himself, but when I told him in practice (that he’d be on McGowan), there was a big smile and he said, ‘That’s who I want to cover,’,” Mazerolle said with a grin. “I guess I made another halfway decent decision.”

Both teams needed this; the Panthers especially after being off a week after losing to Bedford as all the contenders jockey for position.

“Any time you win here,” Mazerolle said. “This is a tough place to play.”

“It’s one of the best gyms in the state in my opinion,” Caruso said. “I love playing here. It’s always a great atmosphere. Great gym, old school. It’s always fun.”

His home away from home, much to the chagrin of the Cards.