Neither Nashua South's Cody Jackson (14) or Merrimack's Shea Scott can get a handle on the ball during Thrusday night's all-area encounter at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – They were on a high on Tuesday night, and the job for the Nashua High School boys basketball players was to make sure they didn’t crash land 48 hours later.

Mission accomplished. Just two days after their season highlight win over Bishop Guertin, the Panthers started strong and controlled another local rival, Merrimack, to the tune of 61-44 Thursday night at the Belanger Gym.

“The way we looked at it, it (the BG game) was a win, one we expected to get and one we needed to get,” the Panthers’ Tuesday hero Daniel Karavanic said. “The way we’ve been thinking the whole time is get these last eight in a row, get our (winning) record back, and you can’t do that without going one at a time. So once that game was over, straight on to Merrimack, one day we focused on them in practice, and now we’ve got Dover tomorrow.”

“We do have gamers like that,” said South coach Nate Mazerolle, his team now 8-6 and as Karavanic alluded, heading to Dover tonight. “They’d play every day. I’m sure they’d rather play five games a week than come to practice, like any kid. We know, the age-old adage, you never look beyond what you’re dealing with. We knew it was a three-game week, a very difficult three-game week. They’re (the Tomahawks) good, that’s a good basketball team…”

But one that had no answer for Karavanic, who was also Thursday’s main Panther, although in a less dramatic way than his game-winning 3-pointer the other night. Last night he led South with 20 points while Shane Lemire had a big seven in the final quarter to finish with 17. That helped offset Merrimack Nate Johnson’s 17, the 6-8 Tomahawks’ lone double figure effort as Brody Towle was next with eight.

“You can’t score 44 points,” ‘Haws coach Austin Denton said. “We had opportunities, wide open shots, we just didn’t hit them. … Tonight we just didn’t have it. It is what it is. Every time I thought we would get over the hump, they made a big shot or they came down and made a big bucket.”

South controlled it from the start, jumping out to a 9-2 lead and up 18-7 after one, sparked by three 3-pointers.

“They kept hitting 3’s and that put us in a hole right away,” Denton said.

“I told the guys that’s the best we’ve been for a long stretch in that first half against the zone,” Mazerolle said. “We knew we were going to see some, we were prepared for it and we executed as well as we have.”

The Panthers rolled to a 32-17 halftime lead. Merrimack cut it to 42-31 after three and actually climbed to within 48-41 with five minutes left. But South, paced by Karavanic, went on an 8-0 run to basically seal the deal.

Besides Karavanic, another key was the Panther defense led by Josh Tripp. While Johnson was the ‘Hawks’ high scorer, didn’t go off and cause major damage. And the Panthers controlled the boards

“My easy answer for everything is Josh Tripp certainly helps,” Mazerolle said. “Defensively he goes and covers the best player on the team and makes everyone else better. Daniel loves having Josh back.”

Mazerolle obviously fretted what Johnson could do, but told his team at the half that he had two 3’s and they were both from 30 feet.

“He didn’t have like 10 in a row,” Mazerolle said. “If they’re going to beat us with 30-foot 3’s, we’ll live with that. Josh Tripp has covered arguably the two best scorers in the state the last two games (BG’s Connor McGowan the other) and I know McGowan the other night had 27 but Josh wears you down. … Every time you drive you hit him in the chest and you feel that over the course of 32 minutes.”

Merrimack’s Nate Johnson goes up to the hoop past Nashua South’s Josh Tripp during Thursday night’s Division I game at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

And then there’s Karavanic, who had a couple of tradition three-point plays at key moments. “It’s not just he has a great post game, he just gets the ball and attacks the rim off the dribble, he’s very, very good for a kid that big.”

Merrimack also has a quick turnaround, hosting Alvirne, which has been off for a week, tonight. But for Mazerolle, this has been the team he thought he would have, especially with Tripp now back from a football injury that delayed his season nearly two months.

“We jokingly tell the kids we hope to be the team nobody (in the tournament) wants to see,” Mazerolle said. “Not once have I seen them waver.”