Nashua North's Sean Battle drives past Bedford's Landon Ellsmore along the baseline during Monday night's game at Titans Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It was in the first half of Nashua North’s boys basketball game vs.Bedford when new Titans head coach Kyle Tave pumped his fist and let out a yell.

North’s Andre Kargbo had just taken a hard charge, and it’s exactly what the new coach wanted to see, even in a game that was getting out of reach en route to an 80-50 Bulldog win.

“We want to defend, we’ve got to dig our heels in, we’ve got to get after it,” Tave said. “It’s putting yourself on the line for the team. It’s trying to get other people open.It’s trying to do the little things, the hard things, the screening, the taking the charges. He just threw his whole body on the line for the team. … We hope to continue to build off of that.”

And that’s what more or less this year will be for the Titans, Tave and his staff – building.

North is now 0-2, heading on the road Thursday at Dover, but no one really expected the Titans to knock off Pinkerton or Bedford. But competing, that’s another story.

“You’ve got to look at two of the teams we’ve played, two of the programs we’ve played, top caliber teams,” Tave said. “Those are programs. You see the multiple sport athletes out there. For us, we don’t have a lot of experience on the floor. But if we can take two steps forward for every step back, the kids are doing a great job. …

“I have a great group that’s ready to listen, ready to go out there and we’re just gaining experience every time we go out there.”

As was the case at Pinkerton, the Titans led at the end of the first quarter 15-14. The Bulldogs went on an 11-2 run in the second quarter, North closed to 25-21, but Bedford went on a 12-0 run to lead 37-21 at the half, and North would get no closer, trailing 56-34 after three.

Josh Sullivan, arguably North’s best player, led the way with 18 points after a scoreless first half while Kargbo added 13. Bedford was led by Landon Ellsmore’s 22, with Logan O’Connell adding 14.

Bulldogs coach Frank Guarino, his team now 2-0 heading into a big one Friday at Bishop Guertin, got his team going in the second quarter.

“When we rebound the basketball, we can go in transition, and we weren’t doing that in the first quarter and just settling in,” Guarino said. “I said ‘Guys, you’ve got to run the floor, get some transition points, and get the ball inside.

“They (North) can really shoot the ball. They’re going to be good.”

New North boys basketball coach Kyle Tave, left, and assistant Bob Boissonneault look on during Monday’s home opener vs. Bedford at Titans Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Tave knows the deal.

“Andre a sophomore, he’s just been doing all the things we’ve asked as a program,” Tave said. “And Sully heated up for us, and he’s got that toughness and just had a great football season.

“If you look at what Bedford does year-in, year-out, it just rolls over, it’s a championship culture,” Tave said. “We’re trying to do that here. … We do what we can do, we just don’t have size right now. We can’t look at what we don’t have, we look at what we’ve got. … I was very happy with the effort today.”