Nashua South's Shane Lemire puts up a shot against Lodnonderry's Cory Kearney duirngTuesday night's Division I game at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Is any lead safe in high school basketball anymore?

It’s getting to the point this season in which that might be a rhetorical question. The Panthers of Nashua South became the latest team to nearly blow a 20-plus lead in the fourth quarter, holding on to escape the Belanger Gym Tuesday night with a 69-64 win over Londonderry. And a much-needed win at that.

“It doesn’t seem like it,” South coach Nate Mazerolle said about safe leads after his team evened its record at 3-3.

“We may not be young but we’re inexperienced, and it was very obvious there. There was sheer and utter panic – there was no other way to put it.”

What gets a team down by 23 in the second half, trailing by 19 heading into the fourth quarter back in a game? That’s easy – turnovers thanks to defensive pressure, plus 3-pointers. South had plenty of the former and the Lancers had four of the latter in the final eight minutes. It wasn’t until the Panthers’ Francisco Rodriguez drove the lane for an easy layup with 15 seconds left that the Nashua South fans could breathe easy. That was after Lancer Garrett Nahlik, who led Londonderry with 15 points, had a putback that cut the South lead to 67-64 with 21 seconds left. Yes, a one possession game.

What the heck happened? The Panthers were in cruise control, leading 20-10 after one, increasing it with a fast pace and pressure defense to 36-21 at the break, then nudging it even further to 55-36 after three.

But suddenly when 4-4 Londonderry’s Nathan Mbuyi hit a runner in the lane with 5:08 to play, Mazerolle called the first of his final three time outs he had left – he used them all – as the Lancers had pulled to within 59-48. A comeback was more than in the air. It might have even altered the result had Mbuyi (10 points) not fouled out soon after. Casey Marsh had nine of his 12, including two treys, in the fourth period.

“Pre-game, all the things we talk about at practice: Don’t dribble against pressure, make bounce passes, hit the middle,” Mazerolle said. “We did the exact opposite of all of those things, we were giving up wide open 3’s. I used to not have any gray hair, I’ve increased that tenfold.”

That being said, it’s to the Panthers’ credit that they survived. As usual, Daniel Karavanic did a lot to lead the Panthers with 19 points, including three key free throws. They put five players in double figures as Shane Lemire had 13 points while Will McKenney, Rodriguez, and Rigo Challinger all had 10 points.

“It was by fingernails, skin of teeth, whatever cliché you want, but we did (survive),” Mazerolle said. “That’s (Londonderry) a good basketball team, so after two losses in a row to get back to .500, that’s a good win.”

Despite being outscored 28-14 in the fourth.

“Everyone will remember the last quarter,” Mazerolle said, “but the first three quarters we played really good basketball.”

Nashua South’s Francisco Rodriguez puts up a jumper against Londonderry’s Ben Sakellar (12) and Nathan Mbuyi during Tuesday’s Division I clash at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)