Nashua South's Daniel Karavanic puts up a tough shot agaist Merrimack's Noah Morrison, left, and Henry Tobin during Wednesday night's Division I prelim at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – There are no style points when it comes to tournament/playoff basketball.

Thus you won’t hear anyone from the Nashua High School South boys basketball team complain about the fact they had to keep pushing to the final minute in a 55-49 Division I preliminary round win over Merrimack Wednesday night.

The Panthers knew they were in for a Belanger Gym battle, and they got one.

“They’re a really good, tough, very well coached team,” Panther senior scorer Josh Caruso said of the No. 13 Tomahawks, who finished up at 8-11. “We knew they were kind of going to throw the first punch, the pressure was all on us and it was up to us to respond to it. We did very good as a team, bounced back and finish the game strong.”

Caruso would know, as he led the way with 27 points while Noah Morrison led Merrimack with 22, 16 in the second half.

“We’ve had a lot of tough games this year,” South coach Nate Mazerolle said. “Battle tested, whatever cliché you want to use. It wasn’t our first time,we didn’t wilt under the bright lights. … You hear it all the time, survive and advance. It was survival.”

And as a result, the No. 4 Panthers live to play another day, and that will be Saturday against No. 5 Exeter (15-4) at 2 p.m. in the comforts of the Belanger Gym.

While the Panthers had to be smart down the stretch, the game was really won in the second quarter when, with the score tied at 16, South went on a 12-3 run to grab a 28-19 lead heading into the break.

“The drought in the second, only eight points in the quarter,” Merrimack coach Austin Denton said. “If you told me they only scored 28 points in the half, I’d say ‘Whoa, we’ve got to be right there or winning.’

“The kids fought hard, they did everything they can. Just a tough one, just didn’t put it in the hoop. … I give the credit to (the Panthers), they play so soundly, they hit shots. But we gave them all they could handle. To hold them to 58 points is pretty good, they usually score in the 70s.”

In fact, Merrimack went 8-2 in the regular season when holding teams under 60. The Panthers weren’t able to run away and hide, even after a Caruso four-point play that had the crowd roaring put South up 38-26 with 2:50 left in the third. It was 42-33 after three, and a Caruso layup made it 48-38 with 3:08 remaining. But Morrison hit a bucket to make it 48-42 with 1:44 left and really wasn’t decided until Linc Vanderhorst’s two free throws and a Caruso layup.

Caruso, dogged most of the night by Merrimack defender extraordinaire, Mikey Flerra, did a lot of his damage at the foul line, hitting 12 of 13 free throws with just that one 3-pointer. Vanderhorst, who had 12 in South’s regular season win, finished with 11 while Josh Tripp had nine. Ryan Elliott had 10.

“We talk all the time, when it’s not going down, get fouled,” Mazerolle said of Caruso’s propensity to get to the line. “He’s heard it for four years, get to the free throw line. … He knew he was going to have a shadow all night long. Josh talked the last three days, gotta be patient.

“It’s not as if anyone stood out. Everyone did their role, and we’ve been building on it all year long.”

Nashua South’s Josh Caruso drives against Merrimack’s Noah Morrison during Wednesday night’s Division I prelim at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Nashua South’s Josh Caruso drives against Merrimack’s Noah Morrison during Wednesday night’s Division I prelim at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Now up next is Exeter, which South beat here 64-52 two weeks ago, the Blue Hawks’ only loss in their last 11 games. It won’t be easy to do it again.

“I know there’s more in Jeff’s (Exeter coach Holmes) toolbox,” Mazerolle said. “We’re going to see some different stuff, and we’re going to have to adapt and adjust during the game.”

Pretty much like they did last night, which showed Caruso something. Quarters like the 18 in the second are the norm for the Panthers, but they only had one of them.

“It tells us everything,” Caruso said. “It tells us we can win either way. We beat teams by a large margin and beat teams very closely when they come back. We kept our composure and came out on top.”